Press release -
East Ayrshire Uncovered
It’s famed for its awe-inspiring dark skies and its links to one of the world’s literary icons, Robert Burns, but a new VisitScotland eBook is shedding light on East Ayrshire’s hidden delights.
Undiscovered Gems, highlights some of the other fantastic things to see and do in the region from outdoor adventures and star gazing to culinary quests and historical hideaways.
Part of VisitScotland and East Ayrshire Council’s latest marketing campaign, the interactive e-book, which is available on the VisitScotland website, includes suggestions such as taking in the scenery on the Sir Chris Hoy Cycle Path, sampling award-winning local produce at Dunlop Dairy and gazing at the infinite wonders of the night sky at the Scottish Dark Sky Observatory.
With a recent VisitScotland Visitor Survey revealing more than a quarter of visitors come to the wider Ayrshire & Arran region for its history and culture, visitors will also find advice about where to explore East Ayrshire’s rich heritage.
These additional assets build on the success of VisitScotland’s Spirit of Scotland global campaign and #ScotSpirit social movement which aims to raise the profile and reputation of the region as an outstanding place to visit, and to invest, live and work in.
The Undiscovered Gems e-book features:
- Scottish Dark Sky Observatory
- Galloway Forest Dark Sky Park
- The Cook School Scotland
- Dunlop Dairy
- Catrine House Coffee Shop & Ice Cream Parlour
- Spirit of Scotland Sculpture
- Ness Glen
- Sir Chris Hoy Cycle Path
- Dumfries House
- Dean Castle & Country Park
- Burns House Museum
- Dick Institute
- Loch Doon
- The Irvine Valley Trail
- Rowallan Castle
Annique Armstrong, VisitScotland Regional Director, said: “This exciting new e-book builds on the success of VisitScotland’s Spirit of Scotland global campaign, helping raise the profile and reputation of East Ayrshire as a fantastic place to visit, live and work in.
“This is a great asset for VisitScotland, East Ayrshire and local businesses to showcase the rich offering, hidden gems and local stories of the region to visitors from across Scotland and beyond.
“With rich history, breath-taking natural landscapes and mouth-watering culinary delights, East Ayrshire offers something to suit all tastes. We hope this new e-book, will inspire people to discover East Ayrshire’s gems for themselves.”
Julie Sloan, East Ayrshire Council Tourism Development Officer, said: “With so many brilliant attractions and fantastic things to do, it was a hard task deciding what to include in Undiscovered Gems. There is so much to choose from! We hope it inspires readers and encourages visitors to explore some of our lesser-known, but equally exciting, ‘gems’. East Ayrshire offers something to suit all tastes and we look forward to welcoming even more people to our region on the back of this excellent new e-book.”
To download East Ayrshire’s Undiscovered Gems visit http://ebooks.visitscotland.com/east-ayrshire/
ENDS
For further information contact:
Louise Purves, Corporate Press Officer
Tel: 0131 472 2052 louise.purves@visitscotland.com
Topics
- Tourism
Categories
- corporate communications
Regions
- Scotland
Notes to Editors
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- VisitScotland is Scotland’s national tourism organisation. Its core purpose is to maximise the economic benefit of tourism to Scotland.
- The organisation’s core objective is to contribute to the Tourism 2020 Strategy ambition of growing tourism revenues by £1 billion by 2020.
- This will be supported by seven overarching strategies:
- Marketing: we will market Scotland and its outstanding assets to visitors from all parts of the world, including the promotion of Scotland to people living in Scotland to visit different parts of the country
- Events: we will support the national events strategy and its delivery, and sustain, develop and promote Scotland’s international profile as one of the world’s foremost events destinations
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- The organisation employs 700 people and has offices and VisitScotland Information Centres across Scotland.
- Spending by tourists in Scotland generates around £12 billion of economic activity in the wider Scottish supply chain and contributes around £6 billion to Scottish GDP (in basic prices). This represents about 5% of total Scottish GDP
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- Where possible, a Gaelic speaker will be made available for broadcast interviews on request (Far an tèid iarraidh, agus far am bheil sin nar comas, bruidhinnidh neach le Gàidhlig aig agallamh) 2017 Year of History, Heritage and Archaeology
- 2017 is the year to delve into the past and discover Scotland’s fascinating stories through a wide-ranging variety of new and existing activity to drive the nation’s tourism and events sector, boosting tourism across Scotland.
- The Year of History, Heritage and Archaeology begins on 1 January 2017 and will end on 31 December 2017. It will build on the momentum generated by previous themed years in Scotland including the 2015 Year of Food and Drink, Homecoming Scotland 2014, the Year of Creative and the Year of Natural.
- The Year of History, Heritage and Archaeology is a Scottish Government initiative being led by VisitScotland, and supported by a variety of partners including Creative Scotland, Scottish Tourism Alliance, Scottish Enterprise, The National Trust for Scotland, Historic Environment Scotland, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, Built Environment Forum Scotland, Heritage Lottery Fund, Museums Galleries Scotland and Traditional Arts and Culture Scotland.
- The Year of History, Heritage and Archaeology is supported by £570,000 of Scottish Government funding.
- The Year of History, Heritage and Archaeology events fund is managed by EventScotland, part of VisitScotland’s Events Directorate.
- For more information visit visitscotland.com/HHA2017 or join the conversation at #HHA2017
