Edinburgh Butterfly & Insect World upgraded to a four-star grading by VisitScotland
Edinburgh, Scotland, 2017-Aug-08 — /Travel PR News/ — The world’s longest running butterfly house has been upgraded to a four-star grading by VisitScotland.
Edinburgh Butterfly & Insect World, attached to Scotland’s largest garden centre, was upgraded from three stars by the national tourism organisation’s Quality Assurance (QA) Scheme in recognition of its excellent standards. The QA Scheme is a benchmark for quality across the tourism industry and operates across accommodation, visitor attractions and food sectors.
Originally just housing butterflies, the attraction has undergone a number of changes and is now home to a vast collection of weird and wonderful animals. The team’s passion for quality led to the implementation of several improvements following the centre’s previous grading. These include new branding and signage, a re-fitted gift shop and a refreshed bee area.
Also boasting a Bugs and Beasties exhibit, Nocturnal Zone and Reptile Room, the attraction offers a wide range of events including birthday parties, school trips and special meet and greets with residents, such as Polly the Tarantula and Zig the Python. Visitors can then crawl or slither to the Jungle Gift Shop where they can treat themselves to a soft toy, book or keyring to remember their trip.
Always looking to improve, Edinburgh Butterfly & Insect World will continue to upgrade its enclosures and the fabric of the building. Visitors can also expect to see some new animals and more exciting events.
Andrew McDonald, General Manager, said: “We are absolutely delighted to receive this award. We have a number of long-standing staff who are committed to giving visitors the best experience possible. Since the last visit there has been a lot of investment and hard work by the team so it’s fantastic to see this has paid off.”
Manuela Calchini, Regional Director for VisitScotland said: “My congratulations go to Andrew and his team on this excellent achievement. Edinburgh Butterfly & Insect World is an exciting and educational attraction which is fun for all ages.
“Our Quality Assurance Scheme is world-leading and provides a trusted, independent and impartial source of information for visitors. It is about much more than just a star rating – it is about the entire visitor experience and investing in the business to make it as economically sustainable, and profitable, as it can be.”
VisitScotland’s QA Schemes can open the door to new customers. It is a powerful marketing tool and works well with online review sites in using an independent perspective to measure visitor experience against tried and tested criteria, so visitors know exactly what to expect.
For more information on Edinburgh Butterfly & Insect World, go to www.edinburghbutterflyworld.com;
For more information on VisitScotland’s Quality Assurance Scheme, go to www.visitscotland.org
Notes to Editors
- Follow us on twitter: @visitscotnews
- VisitScotland is Scotland’s national tourism organisation. Its core purpose is to maximise the economic benefit of tourism to Scotland.
- The organisation’s core objective is to contribute to the Tourism 2020 Strategy ambition of growing tourism revenues by £1 billion by 2020.
- This will be supported by seven overarching strategies:
- Marketing: we will market Scotland and its outstanding assets to visitors from all parts of the world, including the promotion of Scotland to people living in Scotland to visit different parts of the country
- Events: we will support the national events strategy and its delivery, and sustain, develop and promote Scotland’s international profile as one of the world’s foremost events destinations
- Internationalisation and International Engagement: we will utilise all our platforms to enable Scottish-based tourism businesses to better understand international opportunities and market to a global audience and we will work within One Scotland Partnerships to optimise the potential of Scotland’s Diaspora and our strategic partners at regional, European and global levels
- Customer Experience: we will provide information and inspiration to visitors both locally and globally via their preferred medium of choice
- Quality and Sustainability: we will provide support and advice to businesses, with the goal of improving the quality and sustainability of the tourism sector in Scotland. We will provide quality assurance to visitors through our Quality Schemes
- Inclusive Tourism: we will strive to make tourism in Scotland inclusive and available to all
- Working in Partnership: we will listen to and work with the industry, partners and communities to shape our offering and support
- To ensure everyone can safely enjoy Scotland’s amazing countryside and landscapes, VisitScotland encourages all visitors to fully respect their surroundings by behaving in a responsible and appropriate way.
- VisitScotland works together with tourism businesses to make tourism a success for everyone and ensure the industry continues to grow.
- The organisation employs 700 people and has offices and VisitScotland Information Centres across Scotland.
- Spending by tourists in Scotland generates around £12 billion of economic activity in the wider Scottish supply chain and contributes around £6 billion to Scottish GDP (in basic prices). This represents about 5% of total Scottish GDP
- The Scottish Government is the Managing Authority for the European Structural Funds 2014-20 Programme. For further information visit www.gov.scot or follow @scotgovESIF
- For VisitScotland’s press releases go to http://www.visitscotland.org/media_centre.aspx, tourism statistics and frequently asked questions go to http://www.visitscotland.org/
- Where possible, a Gaelic speaker will be made available for broadcast interviews on request (Far an tèid iarraidh, agus far am bheil sin nar comas, bruidhinnidh neach le Gàidhlig aig agallamh)
2017 Year of History, Heritage and Archaeology
- 2017 is the year to delve into the past and discover Scotland’s fascinating stories through a wide-ranging variety of new and existing activity to drive the nation’s tourism and events sector, boosting tourism across Scotland.
- The Year of History, Heritage and Archaeology begins on 1 January 2017 and will end on 31 December 2017. It will build on the momentum generated by previous themed years in Scotland including the 2015 Year of Food and Drink, Homecoming Scotland 2014, the Year of Creative and the Year of Natural.
- The Year of History, Heritage and Archaeology is a Scottish Government initiative being led by VisitScotland, and supported by a variety of partners including Creative Scotland, Scottish Tourism Alliance, Scottish Enterprise, The National Trust for Scotland, Historic Environment Scotland, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, Built Environment Forum Scotland, Heritage Lottery Fund, Museums Galleries Scotland and Traditional Arts and Culture Scotland.
- The Year of History, Heritage and Archaeology is supported by £570,000 of Scottish Government funding.
- The Year of History, Heritage and Archaeology events fund is managed by EventScotland, part of VisitScotland’s Events Directorate.
- For more information visit visitscotland.com/HHA2017 or join the conversation at #HHA2017
Contact:
Grant Anderson
Corporate Communications Assistant
grant.anderson@visitscotland.com
Out of hours – 0131 472 2324
Source: Visit Scotland