EDINBURGH Castle enjoyed its busiest day on record in July, as the number of visitors to heritage attractions soared over the last four months.
From April to July, almost two million people visited Historic Scotland’s paid-for visitor attractions across the country.
Operated by Historic Environment Scotland, the castles and historic places and sites together help tell more than 5,000 years of Scottish history, and as always, Edinburgh Castle is the most popular paid-for heritage attraction in the country.
On July 16, some 11,368 people crossed over its drawbridge, the largest number of paying customers to ever visit the castle in one day.
Castle staff welcomed 755,001 visitors in 122 days, an increase of eight per cent year-on-year, and it set three new consecutive monthly visitor records for May-July.
Over the last four months, a total 1,964,118 visitors flocked to attractions throughout the country, from Shetland to the Borders, an increase of more than 169,000 on the same period in 2015.
The seasonal surge in visitors also led to a number of historic sites, including six castles, a palace and a prehistoric village, breaking their previous records for footfall, when compared to last year.
A total of eight sites also recorded a treble in terms of back-to-back record-breaking months.
Joining Edinburgh with a new daily record was Urquhart Castle on the banks of Loch Ness, with a single day in July seeing 4,514 visitors. Visitor numbers jumped nine per cent overall to 192,191 making it the third top visitor attraction after Edinburgh and Stirling Castles.
As the stand-in for the fictional Castle Leoch in the hit TV series Outlander, Doune Castle witnessed a further surge in visitor numbers, brought by the ‘Outlander effect’. Benefiting from three back-to-back record-breaking months, a total of 40,751 people visited the now iconic castle, an increase of more than 7,500 visitors or 23 per cent compared with the same period in 2015.
Stephen Duncan, director of commercial and tourism at Historic Environment Scotland, said: “This season has brought with it a raft of impressive new records and achievements for a number of our Historic Scotland attractions. With just under two million people turning out at our castles, palaces, abbeys and other historic sites throughout the country, over a four-month period, it’s proving to be a season for the record books.
“We’ve seen particularly strong numbers across the board this season. Membership was up seven per cent by the end of July, to 171,112 members, and footfall at our 77 ticketed attractions rose by more than 169,000 visitors overall.
“It’s fantastic to see the enduring appeal that sites including Edinburgh, Stirling and Urquhart Castles have.
“These positive trends can also be seen across the country at a number of our other sites.
“Skara Brae, which dates back 5,000 years, experienced an eight per cent rise in visitor numbers, while in the Borders, Melrose and Jedburgh Abbeys also witnessed increases in their visitor levels, with both setting new records for May and July.
“Another top performer was Doune Castle, which rose to fame for its starring role in the highly successful TV series Outlander, illustrating the draw and future potential of Scotland’s rich history and heritage.
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