Press release -
Scottish attractions nominated the best in Britain
A host of Scotland’s most outstanding visitor destinations and attractions have been nominated for prestigious awards by national publication BBC Countryfile Magazine. And with the 28 February voting deadline fast approaching, the public are encouraged not to delay in helping their favourites become winners of the prestigious title’s 2017 Awards.
Now in their sixth year, the BBC Countryfile Magazine Awards celebrate the best of the British countryside, from its great heritage attractions and favourite holiday destinations to its most stunning nature reserves and finest rural pubs.
This year’s awards feature 12 separate categories and the shortlist of nominees from all over the UK was selected by some of the country’s most respected travel, nature and outdoors writers and broadcasters. The experts nominated a total of 10 Scottish finalists across the categories:
- Isle of Mull as Holiday Destination of the Year - nominated by Anita Rani, Countryfile presenter
- Loch Lomond & The Trossachs National Park as National Park of the Year - nominated by John Craven, Countryfile presenter
- Skara Brae, Orkney as Heritage Site of the Year - nominated by Bill Bryson, best-selling author and former chair of CPRE
- Inverewe Gardens, Wester Ross as Garden of the Year - nominated by Joe Swift, Gardeners’ World presenter
- Abernethy Forest, Strathspey, Highlands as Nature Reserve of the year - nominated by Brett Westwood, Radio 4 presenter
- The Stein Inn, Waternish, Skye as Country Pub of the Year – nominated by Pete Brown, author of ‘The Pub’
- Balephuil Bay, Tiree, Argyll & The Isles as Beach of the Year - nominated by Hermione Cockburn, Coast presenter
- Seacliff near North Berwick, East Lothian as Beach of the Year - nominated by Hermione Cockburn, Coast presenter
- Bass Rock, Fife image ‘Gannet Glory’, photographed by Ken Lewis, as Reader Photo of the Year - nominated by Naomi Wilkinson, Countryfile presenter
- Orkney-set ‘The Outrun’ by Amy Liptrot as Book of the Year - nominated by Fergus Collins, editor of BBC Countryfile Magazine
Votes can be placed – by 28 February - online at the BBC Countryfile Magazine website www.countryfile.com/awards
People can vote in each category but multiples votes for the same nominee from the same email address will not be accepted. The winners will be announced mid-March online and will appear in the May issue of BBC Countryfile Magazine which goes on sale on 7 April.
Around 12,000 votes were cast by almost 18,000 voters in last year’s BBC Countryfile Magazine Awards – which saw Dumfries & Galloway named Holiday Destination of The Year, Bass Rock taking the Nature Reserve of The Year title and The Applecross Inn, Strathcarron, winning Pub of The Year.
VisitScotland Chief Executive Malcolm Roughead said: “It’s wonderful that once again so many great examples of the superb quality and range of Scotland’s tourism assets have been shortlisted in the BBC Countryfile Magazine Awards. The panel has picked outstanding nominees which richly deserve to be named as national winners so I would encourage as many people as possible to take the time to vote for each of our Scottish finalists so that we can celebrate just how special and appreciated they are.”
Fergus Collins, editor of BBC Countryfile Magazine, said “It’s been another fantastic year for nominations from Scotland – again reflecting the thrilling diversity of landscapes and visitor attractions across the country. It’s a reminder to those who haven’t visited Scotland to make immediate plans!”
ENDS -
For further information contact:
Ellen Drummond Ferroni, VisitScotland Regional Corporate Press Officer
Tel: 0141 566 4019; Mob:07801 820757; Email: ellen.drummondferroni@visitscotland.com
Please note - I work Mon-Thurs; for enquiries on Fridays please contact our Press Team on 0131 472 2324.
Topics
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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’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
- Internationalisation and International Engagement: we will utilise all our platforms to enable Scottish-based tourism businesses to better understand international opportunities and market to a global audience and we will work within One Scotland Partnerships to optimise the potential of Scotland’s Diaspora and our strategic partners at regional, European and global levels
- Customer Experience: we will provide information and inspiration to visitors both locally and globally via their preferred medium of choice
- Quality and Sustainability: we will provide support and advice to businesses, with the goal of improving the quality and sustainability of the tourism sector in Scotland. We will provide quality assurance to visitors through our Quality Schemes
- Inclusive Tourism: we will strive to make tourism in Scotland inclusive and available to all
- Working in Partnership: we will listen to and work with the industry, partners and communities to shape our offering and support
- 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.
- 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.
- The Scottish Government is the Managing Authority for the European Structural Funds 2014-20 Programme. For further information visit www.gov.scot or follow @scotgovESIF
- 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 events in Scotland go to www.conventionscotland.com
- 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
