Press release -
Google Shine on Nessie
VisitScotland 'Meet the Scots' ambassador, Adrian Shine has been assisting global technology company Google in a mission to inspire everyone in the world to discover what lies beneath Loch Ness.
Mr Shine, who is leader of the Loch Ness Project and designer of the five-star Loch Ness Centre & Exhibition in Drumnadrochit, spent a number of days with the Google Street View and Catlin Seaview Survey teams, as they performed an undercover operation to photograph above and below the waters that host the famous monster – Nessie.
Launched online on Tuesday 21 April, Nessie hunters worldwide will be able to use Google Street View to search the mysterious waters. Magically, when searching in the Loch Ness area, the usual yellow Google Pegman will change to a Nessie peg-monster, giving users the power to zoom into different areas of the lake.
The launch date coincides with the most famous photograph of the Loch Ness Monster - the ‘Surgeon's Photograph’ which was published in the Daily Mail on 21 April 1934.
On the day of release of the special Loch Ness Street View visuals, YouTube footage will be released including behind the scenes shots and a special short film including Adrian Shine which will illustrate just how interesting and breathtakingly beautiful the Loch and surrounding area is – even if you don’t catch a glimpse of the elusive creature.
Loch Ness is famous throughout the world, not only for the mythical icon that is Nessie, but as an area of outstanding natural beauty. VisitScotland hopes this global initiative will heighten the profile of Loch Ness and Scotland inspiring people worldwide to discover this unique country.
‘Meet the Scots’ ambassador and Loch Ness expert Adrian Shine plays a major role in VisitScotland international and domestic marketing campaigns. He said:
“To search for the Yeti, you’d have to spend days trekking through the Himalayas; for Big Foot, you’d have to take a deep hike into the forests of North America, but if you want to look for our much loved Scottish monster, all you have to do is travel to Loch Ness and enjoy a beautiful stroll around its waters. Nessie is the most accessible cryptid in the world!
“The Google project was so cloaked in secrecy, when people asked about the ripples in the Loch during the special diving expeditions; for once I had no opinion! I’m so proud to have been part of this initiative and I hope people worldwide enjoy exploring Street View to have a look and then be inspired to travel to Scotland to discover this area of magical beauty and natural intrigue. If there are no dragons here, there should be”.
Malcolm Roughead, Chief Executive of VisitScotland said:
“The Street View project is hugely exciting and we are delighted the team at Google have been as inspired about our monster as the hundreds and thousands of visitors who travel to Loch Ness every year hoping to catch a glimpse.
“Nessie is an enduring icon of Scotland – a character, a legend, a myth – whatever you want to call her, visitors from across the globe have been intrigued by her for more than 80 years. However, even without catching sight of the monster, the landscapes in and around Loch Ness are simply breath-taking and I would encourage everyone to add a trip here to their bucket list.”
Research carried out 20 years ago estimated the Nessie phenomenon having an economic impact of £40 million to the Scottish economy. With inflation, this figure would have risen to £60 million by now, but again this is an estimate due to the sheer scale of the Nessie phenomenon.
Drumnadrochit is the largest village on Loch Ness and offers more or less every facility for tourists, including a tourist information centre with free car park, shops, bars, restaurants and the Loch Ness Centre & Exhibition (www.lochness.com) The village enjoys a vibrant seasonal tourist trade that attracts over 200,000 visitors a year and yet still manages to keep its village feel.
To discover more about the special Google Street View Loch Ness project and to see the promotional film, visit:
Topics
- Tourism
Categories
- lochnessmonster
- nessie
- corporate communications
Regions
- Scotland
Notes to Editors
- Follow us on twitter: @visitscotnews
- VisitScotland is Scotland’s national tourism organisation. Its core purpose is to maximise the economic benefit of tourism to Scotland.
- The organisation has three key roles:
- To market Scotland to all parts of the world to attract visitors
- To provide information – and inspiration – to visitors and potential visitors so they get the best out of a visit to Scotland
- To provide quality assurance to visitors and quality advice to the industry and partners to help the industry meet and strive to exceed customer expectations
- VisitScotland works together with tourism businesses to make tourism a success for everyone and ensure the industry continues to grow.
- The organisation employs 700 people and has offices and VisitScotland Information Centres across Scotland.
- According to a recent Deloitte study, the tourism economy supports 270,000 jobs in Scotland in 20,000 diverse businesses. The same study calculates that the tourism economy contributes £11 billion annually (direct and indirect impact, including day visits) and supports around 10 per cent of employment in Scotland. Almost 16 million tourists take overnight trips to Scotland.
- For VisitScotland’s press releases go to http://www.visitscotland.org/media_centre.aspx, tourism statistics and frequently asked questions go to http://www.visitscotland.org/
- 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)
- For holiday information on Scotland go to www.visitscotland.com
- For information about business tourism in Scotland go to www.conventionscotland.com
Year of Food and Drink 2015
- 2015 is the Year of Food and Drink, a celebration of Scotland’s natural larder and the role that food and drink plays in shaping our economic success.
- Scotland generates over £2.5m per day through food and drink tourism.
- A series of themed months will create an appetite for key areas of Scotland’s food and drink industries – from seafood and whisky to berries and high-quality meat
- For more information, visit www.visitscotland.com/tastescotland
