Scotland’s top visitor attraction, Edinburgh Castle, has reported a record breaking Easter weekend.
Between Friday and Monday, more than 28,500 visitors crossed over the castle’s famous drawbridge – an increase of almost 2,500 on the previous record, which was set in 2014. Saturday 26th March saw the stronghold welcome over 8,800 visitors alone, making it the busiest Easter Saturday on record.
The castle was amongst 77 ticketed attractions operated by Historic Environment Scotland to experience strong visitor numbers for an Easter falling in March. Over 60,900 people visited some of the country’s most iconic heritage attractions. This is an increase of 23 per cent on the last Easter to fall in March, which was in 2013.
Stephen Duncan, Director of Commercial and Tourism at Historic Environment Scotland, said: “The Easter holiday weekend is always a popular time for our attractions and this year we welcomed a record breaking 28,552 visitors to Edinburgh Castle over the bank holiday period.
“With more than 30 of our sites, up and down the country, opening their doors to visitors once again, a full Easter themed events programme at Edinburgh and Stirling Castles and the opening of a new medieval stones exhibition at Elgin Cathedral, there was plenty for visitors to do and see this Easter weekend.
“Overall this was one of our best March Easters on record.”
About Historic Environment Scotland (HES)
- As of the 1st October 2015, Historic Scotland and RCAHMS came together to form a new lead public body charged with caring for, protecting and promoting the historic environment. The new body Historic Environment Scotland (HES) will lead on delivering Scotland’s first strategy for the historic environment, Our Place in Time.
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Year of Innovation, Architecture and Design 2016
2016 is the Year of Innovation, Architecture and Design (IAD). Through a series of exciting events and activity, the year will showcase Scotland's position as an "innovation nation", its outstanding built heritage, and its thriving, internationally acclaimed creative industries sector. This is a Scottish Government initiative being led by VisitScotland and supported by a variety of partners.
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