A new website geared to help the hospitality and tourism sector in the Highlands reap more economic benefit from the nation's most famous tipple has been launched by ScotlandWhisky, the national whisky tourism initiative.
The new site is being launched in time for Christmas, which is traditionally the busiest time of year for malt whisky sales, as people throughout the world celebrate the festive season and see in the New Year with their favourite dram.
The website has been developed to enhance the growing number of 70 ScotlandWhisky Embassy members such as The Cross in Kingussie and Knockomie in Forres to promote their Whisky expertise. It will also encourage enthusiasts to boost existing visitor numbers to over a million that visit a distillery each year.
Boasting the best of latest online resources, the site will now offer dynamic maps of all the Whisky Embassies and distilleries involved in addition to whisky events, festivals, visit information and online bookable whisky tours.
Chris Conway, of ScotlandWhisky, commented: "Online support is just one of the many benefits on offer to tourism and hospitality businesses joining our network of Whisky Embassies through an enhanced membership package.
Many of our members report a significant increase in Whisky sales as a direct result of employing staff who we have passed through our Whisky School and we are confident that those sales come from satisfied customers who will either visit again or recommend Scotland to friends and family."
Roger Edwards, tourism development manager at Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE), commented: "Scotch Whisky is an iconic product which helps to position Scotland as a unique tourism destination. Supporting a positive and exciting experience of whisky for our visitors offers the potential to grow tourism revenues.
"Having staff knowledgeable about whisky is a key component of providing that memorable experience. This new web resource will help in creating more bar and restaurant staff as enthusiastic and well-informed ambassadors for Scotland and the Whisky industry."
With Scotch Whisky widely recognised as one of the country's most valuable tourism assets, the ScotlandWhisky initiative was launched four years ago to promote and develop Whisky tourism in Scotland.
The select group of embassies comprise of pubs, hotels and restaurants which pride themselves on employing staff who are educated and knowledgeable in the sales and service of Scotch Whisky and who can offer an environment which is favourable to whisky appreciation.
Criteria required to become an Embassy include a minimum quality standard, an extensive range of Scotch whisky, a conducive ambience to whisky appreciation and a select number of staff who successfully pass the Scotch Whisky School qualification. Embassies are encouraged to offer additional experiences for whisky appreciation such as whisky evenings, nosings and tastings and stays at embassies can be booked online at www.visitscotland.com
The ScotlandWhisky initiative is a partnership between the public and private sectors with the aim of exploring where the tourism and Scotch Whisky industries can work together to improve the visitor experience. The project is financed by the Scotch Whisky Association, The Scotch Whisky Experience, Scottish Enterprise, Highlands and Islands Enterprise and VisitScotland.
The new enhanced website can be visited at www.scotlandwhisky.com
