Drinks giant pours £150m into whisky tourism

DRINKS giant Diageo has announced a £150million investment it hopes will ‘transform’ whisky tourism in Scotland.

The firm hopes to create a state-of-the-art Johnnie Walker ‘immersive visitor experience’ in Edinburgh.

It also plans to upgrade the visitor centres at its 12 distilleries across the country.

Diageo is aiming to have the centre in Edinburgh up and running by 2020 to coincide with the 200th anniversary of the Johnnie Walker brand.

The firm’s chief executive, Ivan Menezes, said: ‘This new investment reinforces our ongoing commitment to growing our Scotch whisky brands and supporting Scotland’s tourism industry.

‘This £150million investment is about creating an amazing place and experience for Johnnie Walker in Edinburgh.’

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said: ‘This investment will not only help attract more tourists to Scotland but it also underlines the fundamental importance of the whisky sector to Scotland’s economy.’

However, the plans to build the centre in Edinburgh sparked anger in Kilmarnock, where the Johnnie Walker brand was founded. Diageo shut its bottling plant in the town in 2012.

The town’s Nationalist MP Alan Brown said: ‘My constituents will see the siting of a visitor attraction in Edinburgh as a further betrayal.’