Whisky Festival Provides Economic Boost for Speyside

The Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival continues to provide a major economic boost to the region, attracting a significant loyal audience and a large number who attended the celebrated Festival for the first time, according to a survey published this week

The Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival Market Research and Festival Evaluation 2011 report found that the five-day event, which ran from 28th April to 2nd May, attracted over 47,000 visits to its packed programme of whisky-themed events, generating £613,000 towards the Speyside economy and £722,000 towards Scotland as a whole.

Speyside has a higher concentration of whisky distilleries than any other part of the world and the Festival, showcasing the very best of the area’s culture, history, landscape and people and with well over 200 events running throughout the five days, has grown in importance over the past 12 years to become one of the leading whisky events in the world.

Almost half of this year’s Festival visitors were from overseas, with whisky aficionados travelling from as far afield as Israel, Columbia, New Zealand, Australia and Russia to sample the spirit of Speyside.

Scandinavian visitors continue to represent the keenest Speyside whisky fans who enjoyed a exceptional choice of whisky-based events and activities, ceilidhs, food tours and family-friendly events with other connoisseurs from countries such as Germany, US, Netherlands, Canada, Italy and Japan.

Festival chairman, Jim Royan said: "Year after year the Festival continues to attract visitors from around the globe, with many already having attended twice or even up to six times before.

"Encouragingly, a large percentage of new visitors this year were experiencing the Festival for the first time.

"Hopefully they will find the Festival as compelling as our many loyal and regular visitors, and come back to join in the festivities with us time and time again.

"We certainly know they enjoyed themselves, because almost 100% of our visitors said they were 'very happy' or 'happy' with their Festival experience, enjoying the atmosphere, hospitality, friendliness, expert knowledge and, this year in particular, the weather!"

Popular events on this year’s Festival programme included the Whisky Awards Finals and the Opening Dinner, the many whisky dinners running throughout the Festival and the highly-regarded and exclusive three-day Whisky School where enthusiasts learned about the science, art and folklore of the whisky industry at the historic Knockando distillery.

The Whisky and Food Tours, which were new for this year, are to be repeated again next year, introducing visitors to the rich culinary and agricultural heritage of the area.

Paul Bush OBE, chief operating officer of EventScotland, commented: "It is wonderful to see the Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival continuing to attract large numbers of Scottish and overseas visitors to the event.

"The economic impact generated for the local area shows the importance of events in Scotland and its continued success shows the appetite for Scottish produce, culture and heritage in an iconic setting."

Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival 2012 runs from 3rd-7th May.

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