Press release -
Season to savour
World class golfing tournaments, archaeological digs and a harbourside food festival are amongst a number of great events taking place in Fife this year.
Manuela Calchini, VisitScotland’s Regional Director for Fife, said: “As the 2017 tourism season gets into full swing in Fife, we have much to be excited about.
“On top of some returning favorites, such as the Crail Food Festival in June and the Pittenweem Arts Festival in August, we also have a number of new attractions to look forward to this year.
“This month will see the much anticipated opening of the Dunfermline Carnegie Library and Galleries. The Galleries will bring the past, present and future of one of Scotland’s ancient Royal capitals to life, showcasing historic collections and amazing built heritage.
“The attraction will provide a new focal point for Dunfermline’s Heritage Quarter and is a major step in unlocking the whole town’s potential as a truly high quality destination.
“Later in the season, we will see the opening of a new distillery in the region too. Lindores Abbey Distillery, currently being built at the 12th century abbey, will allow visitors to experience one of the whisky industry’s most historic locations when it opens later this summer.
“With production of ‘aqua vitae’ said to date back 500 years, Lindores Abbey has a fascinating story to tell and I’m sure it will prove a huge hit with aficionados of our national drink as well as those looking for a first taste of whisky history.”
The opening of Lindores Abbey Distillery and Visitor Centre is also perfectly timed as we celebrate the Year of History, Heritage and Archaeology.
Manuela said: “With over one third of visitors drawn to Scotland for its history and culture, the Year of History, Heritage and Archaeology is an exciting opportunity to relive Fife’s captivating past.
“Welcome to Fife have already been making the most of the themed year by running a fantastic competition online while The Scottish Fisheries Museum in Anstruther have a number of exhibitions and events planned to celebrate the East Neuk’s amazing past, including archeological digs throughout the summer.
“From medieval castles to ancient monuments, cultural traditions to our myths, stories and legends – the Year of History, Heritage and Archaeology is shining a spotlight of some of our greatest assets as well as our hidden gems.”
This year is also set to be another exciting one for golf in the kingdom with the return of the star studded Dunhill Links in October. Before then, Fife will host one of only five major tournaments in the women’s professional golf when the Ricoh Women’s British Open tees off at Kingsbarns Golf Links for the very first time.
Manuela said: “Already renowned for its abundance of championship golf courses, Fife will once again provide a stage for some of the biggest dates on the golfing calendar this year.
“I’m particularly looking forward to the Ricoh Womens British Open at Kingsbarns as we continue the countdown to the Solheim Cup at Gleneagles in 2019. The biggest major in the women’s game outside of the USA, the tournament is sure to attract a big crowd at the impressive Kingsbarns Golf Links.”
“Golf events like the Ricoh British Women’s Open and the Dunhill Links don’t just provide great entertainment either - they represent a multi-million pound benefit to the region – generating jobs and enhancing the region’s economy.”
The tourism horizon in Fife – and indeed Scotland – is constantly changing and VisitScotland has positively responded to the change in the way in which visitors are accessing information and inspiration about their holiday, as well as the welcome they receive when arriving in Scotland.
Manuela added: “We have been working with businesses in the tourism industry over the last year or more to take advantage of advances in digital technology and while there is still a lot of work to do, we are pleased with the number of businesses signing up to schemes such as the VisitScotland information Partner Scheme, international partnerships and digital training opportunities.
“The way we market Fife is also changing. With the huge reach potential of digital and social media, we will, in collaboration with Fife Council and the Fife Tourism Partnership, be focusing on producing digital content for uploading to Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Instagram. This gives us a huge opportunity to build joint resources which can be used by the industry and provides a much greater reach than ever before.”
“I would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a fantastic tourism season – I look forward to working with you all to make it one of our best yet.”
To take part in Welcome to Fife’s Year of History, Heritage and Archelogy 2017 competition visit, www.welcometofife.com/HHA2017
Topics
- Tourism
Categories
- corporate communications
- fife
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’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
