HIT television show Outlander has been hailed as the new “Braveheart”, according to VisitScotland.
With the start of Season 3 due to be screened tomorrow, the tourist board’s chief executive Malcolm Roughead has hailed its significant impact on tourism.
Visitors from around the world are flocking to Scotland to experience the landscape that inspired the series, the same way that thousands travelled to the country after the release of Braveheart in 1995.
Latest figures from the Moffat Centre’s Visitor Attraction Monitor show the tangible effect of the series, which is based on Diana Gabaldon’s famous novels, has had in Scotland with many reporting as much as a 92 per cent rise in visitors.
Between 2014, when the series first aired, and 2016, Doune Castle – known as Castle Leoch in the show – has had an unprecedented 91.8 per cent increase in visitors from 47,069 to 90,279. Blackness Castle, which provides the setting for malicious Black Jack Randall’s headquarters, has welcomed 85.5 per cent more visitors since 2014, rising to 30,053 visitors per year in 2016.
“We have been absolutely blown away by the response globally to the Outlander series and the direct impact it has had on visits is truly exceptional,” said Roughead.
“In past research it is always Braveheart, Harry Potter or even the Da Vinci Code which was mentioned as film inspiration, but in recent times it is Outlander which is referenced above all others.
“And I’m not surprised, Scotland looks truly stunning in the series and I can see why fans of Jamie and Claire want to experience the land that inspired Outlander or themselves.”
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