Link to TV show Outlander boosts visitor numbers to Scots historic sites

HISTORIC sites across Scotland have welcomed a rise in visitor numbers due to their links to popular television programme Outlander.

Historic Environment Scotland (HES) has said featuring in the TV show has resulted in the sites, including Linlithgow Palace, Glasgow Cathedral and Aberdour Castle enjoying a rise in visitors.

The time-travel historical romance has led to a “significant surge” in visitors, HES says.

Blackness Castle on the south coast of the Firth of Forth – which features in the series as the stand-in for Fort William – has seen the most significant rise in visitors, up 72 per cent for the period April 1 to June 25 this year.

Doune Castle, which plays the role of the fictional Castle Leoch, has recorded a 50 per cent increase in the same period. Aberdour

Outlander is now shown on terrestrial television.

Castle visitors have risen by 58 per cent, Linlithgow Castle by 43 per cent and Glasgow Cathedral up by 39 per cent.

The show was shown on terrestrial television, on More4, for the first time this week.

Stephen Duncan, director of Commercial and Tourism at Historic Environment Scotland,

which manages 300 Historic Scotland visitor attractions, said: “Featuring in Outlander has opened up our sites to a new audience, inspiring more and more visitors to discover the history behind these places, further demonstrating the enduring value and significance of heritage attractions in Scotland.”