SPIRIT OF SPEYSIDE WHISKY FESTIVAL IS A MECCA FOR WHISKY LOVERS WORLDWIDE

With a higher concentration of whisky distilleries than any other part of the world, 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 today.

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.

Showcasing the very best of the area’s culture, history, landscape and people and with well over 200 events running throughout the five days, the festival 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 afficionados 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. And 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 as well as 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 for 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.”

Notes:

– The Market Research and Festival Evaluation Report 2010 was conducted by Enigma Business Consulting, Muir of Ord
– Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival 2012 runs from 3rd-7th May. Further information at www.spiritofspeyside.com  

– Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival 2011 has received funding from EventScotland and is also financially supported by many other private and public partners
– EventScotland is the national events agency. EventScotland is working to make Scotland one of the world’s leading event destinations. By developing an exciting portfolio of sporting and cultural events EventScotland is helping to raise Scotland’s international profile and boost the economy by attracting more visitors. For further information about EventScotland, its funding programmes and latest event news visit www.EventScotland.org
– The Year of Active Scotland is a Scottish Government initiative being delivered by EventScotland and VisitScotland which began on the 1st January 2011. For more information go to www.eventscotland.org/activescotland
– A series of focus years running from 2010 to 2013 will ensure co-ordinated national activity that will spotlight some of Scotland’s great assets as we journey towards 2014. The four focus years are centred on domestic and international tourism and the development of the events industry in Scotland. These focus years will celebrate our reputation as a land food and drink, as an active nation, as a place of culture and creativity and as a place of natural beauty.
– EventScotland in partnership with Volunteer Development Scotland is delivering Event Team Scotland, a new web – based portal which matches volunteers across Scotland with exciting sporting and cultural events. For more information please visit www.eventteamscotland.com

Summary of Key Findings

– It is estimated that the 2011 Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival generated over 47,000 ‘visits to events’ over five days
– The Festival’s direct economic benefit to Speyside is estimated at £613,000 and to Scotland as a whole is £722,000.
– The average spend per person at the Festival is estimated at £247. This was significantly higher for overseas visitors (£331) and lower for Scottish visitors (£128) and UK visitors (£206). The average spend reported by respondents taking part in the survey is, however, estimated to be higher than it would be for the majority of visitors compared to VisitScotland’s published ‘spend per night’ figures
– Information from the online booking system suggests that 56% of the total number of tickets purchased were purchased by overseas visitors. The number of overseas visitors taking part in the survey accounted for 49% of respondents.
– The 2011 Festival again attracted visitors from around the globe to the Speyside area. 75% of Survey Respondents (who did not live in the local area) said that the Festival was their main reason for their visit to Speyside. This compares to 71% in 2010 and 65.5% in 2009
– 88% of visitors (from outside the local area and whose main reason for visiting Speyside was the Festival) were staying overnight in Speyside. The average number of nights people stayed was 3.63. This was lower for Scottish visitors (2.54 nights) and higher for UK (3.93 nights) and overseas (4.02 nights) visitors.
– Levels of satisfaction were exceptionally high with 99.7% of visitors saying that they were ‘very happy’ or ‘happy’. People enjoyed the atmosphere, hospitality, friendliness, expert knowledge and weather the most.
– 70% of this year’s Festival visitors were attending for the first time (an increase on 67% saying this in 2010). The Festival continues to attract a loyal audience with over a quarter of survey respondents having attended the Festival for more than 6 years.
– 41% of this year’s visitors plan to attend the Festival in 2012.
– The Festival attracted more males than females with a 73/27 split; the majority of visitors are aged 26+.