Outlander effect helps draw 5m to Scotland’s historic attractions

Scotland’s historic attractions have hit a record milestone by attracting more than five million people in a single year, heritage bosses say.

Historic Environment Scotland (HES), which manages more than 300 Historic Scotland attractions, celebrated a 17% increase in footfall from 2016/17 numbers.

Heritage chiefs say the organisation recorded 5,041,297 visitors throughout the 2017/18 financial year.

The surge in numbers is attributed to growth in UK, European and overseas visitors, with a “significant uplift” in Scots visiting sites.

The ongoing Outlander effect has seen North American visitor figures to historic sites rise by 27% and French visitors increase by 19%.

The locations which feature in the US-British television series continue to see a rise in visitor numbers. Doune Castle has attracted a 227% increase in numbers and Blackness Castle increased by 182% since 2013.

Stephen Duncan, director of commercial and tourism at HES, said: “Our record-breaking visitor figures, including across all of our top 10 sites, are a tremendous achievement for Scotland’s heritage tourism sector, reflecting the continued interest shown by tourists and home-grown visitors to learn more about our rich Scottish heritage.

“Over five million visitors have flocked to our wealth of historic sites across the length and breadth of the country, ranging from iconic attractions such as Edinburgh Castle and Stirling Castle, to landmarks such as Skara Brae in Orkney and Iona Abbey, as well as castles in Scotland’s historic towns, such as St Andrews.”

Individual castles, palaces and other historic sites also achieved record figures.

The top 10 most-visited HES attractions all celebrated recordbreaking years, with more than two million people visiting Edinburgh Castle, an increase of nearly 300,000 visitors compared to the previous year.

Glasgow Cathedral also saw an increase of 27% to 400,324 visits, while St Andrews Castle welcomed 90,253 visitors, an increase of 16%.