Isle of Arran Distillery announces record visitor numbers to

 award-winning Lochranza site

The award-winning Isle of Arran Distillery visitor centre at Lochranza welcomed a record number of visitors last year. Almost 110,000 people made the journey to find ‘the Arran Waters’ in 2017 – a 6% increase on 2016 – meaning visitor numbers have more than doubled since 2012.

With the Scotch Whisky Association’s most recent report estimating 1.7 million visits to all 130 Scotch whisky distilleries, Arran accounts for 7%. An impressive total considering its isolated location and distance from other producers.

The independent distillery recorded a turnover of over £6.9m in 2016 – an increase of 11% – with the Visitor Centre contributing 17% of this total.

Over the six years from 2010 – a period of extensive investment – turnover has increased two and half times and net profit surged tenfold to over £1.3.

Euan Mitchell, managing director of the Isle of Arran Distillers, said: “2017 was another fantastic year for us – both in terms of tourism and sales of the Arran Malt itself.

“We’re particularly proud that so many people are making the journey to Lochranza – from self-proclaimed whisky tourist to curious holiday-makers on Arran and everyone inbetween.

“It is for this reason that we have placed so much emphasis on the visitor experience. With the completion of a £1m renovation at Lochranza, and with the current construction of second £10m distillery and visitor centre site on the south of the island at Lagg, we intend to improve an already world-class whisky tourism destination.”

As a consequence of this investment, last year the distillery was awarded Best Contribution to Wine and Spirits Tourism at the international Drinks Business Awards and Best Distillery/Brewery Tour at the Scottish Outdoor and Leisure Awards.

Faye Waterlow, visitor centre manager at Lochranza, said: “We have long recognised the value of giving consumers the chance to experience the whisky making process and the source of the Arran spirit. We appreciate the enormous contribution that the location of our distillery makes.

“The steady growth of the visitor centre is a testament to increasing consumer demand for authenticity and whisky with a story to tell. We look forward to sharing this story with even more visitors when the second site opens next year.”

Total visitor numbers to both sites are expected to exceed 200,000 by 2020 once the new visitor centre in Lagg has been opened. The contribution to turnover is forecast to exceed £2m a year.

Notes:

For more information visit www.arranwhisky.com
* Accolades for Isle of Arran Distillery include Winner for: Best New Exporter (2004), Queen’s Award for International Trade (2005), Scottish Distiller of the Year (2007) and Scottish Drinks Producer of the Year (2007.)

Best Contribution to Wine and Spirits Tourism – Drinks Business Awards 2017

Best Distillery/Brewery Tour – Scottish Outdoor and Leisure Awards 2017

Scottish Field Visitor Experience of the Year 2014 & 2015.

Product awards include: Best Whisky Liqueur (2007), ‘Best Single Malt Scotch 12 Years & Under’ for The Arran Malt Amarone Cask Finish (2008) ‘Best Single Malt Scotch 11-15 Years’ for The Arran Malt Sherry Single Cask 1998 (2010) and ‘Best Single Malt Scotch 11-15 Years’ for the Icons of Arran Peacock (2011.) ‘Double Gold Award’ for Arran’s 14 Year Old Single Malt and ‘Gold Award’ for Arran’s 10 Year Old Single Malt at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition (2012). Double Gold in FiftyBest.com awards (2012). Double Gold Medal for the 12 year-old Cask Strength in the San Francisco World Spirits Competition (2013). Double Gold for both the 10 year-old and 12 year-old Cask Strength at the China Wine & Spirits Best Value Awards 2014.