Glasgow’s much-loved venue, Kelvin Hall earns five-star rating from VisitScotland

EDINBURGH, Scotland, 2018-Nov-05 — /Travel PR News/ — Glasgow’s iconic Kelvin Hall has been awarded a five-star rating from Scotland’s national tourism organisation.

The much-loved venue, which is currently undergoing a multi-million pound refurbishment, received VisitScotland’s top Quality Assurance (QA) Scheme accolade in recognition of its exceptional customer service and high-quality facilities.

The project to renovate Kelvin Hall is being delivered in partnership by Glasgow City Council, Glasgow Life, the University of Glasgow, The Hunterian and the National Library of Scotland.

The £35m first phase was completed at the end of 2016 and has breathed new life into the building; transforming it into a centre of cultural and sporting excellence, which attracts around 12,000 visitors each week.

VisitScotland’s QA Scheme is the benchmark for quality across the country’s tourism industry and rewards accommodation providers, visitor attractions and food and drink sector operators.

Jim Clarkson, VisitScotland’s Regional Leadership Director, said: “Congratulations to Kelvin Hall for this outstanding achievement. An incredible amount of time, effort and investment has been put into improving the venue and it has certainly paid off. This accolade is testament to the hard work put in by the whole team and I am delighted to be presenting this well-deserved recognition.

“Our Quality Assurance Scheme is about more than just the ‘stars’ on the door, it is world-leading and provides a trusted, independent and impartial source of information for visitors. Delivering a quality experience that meets, and exceeds, visitor expectations is crucial in making Scotland a must-visit, must-return destination.”

Earlier this year, Kelvin Hall received a Gold Award from the Green Tourism Business Scheme (GTBS) – the largest eco-certification programme of its kind in the world – for its “highly impressive” commitment to sustainability and accessibility.

Councillor David McDonald, Chair of Glasgow Life and Depute Leader of Glasgow City Council, said: “As an inspirational cultural and sporting complex of international scale and quality, Kelvin Hall is a game changer for Scotland’s cultural image. Five star status from VisitScotland is a real reflection of the quality and diversity of the visitor offer within Kelvin Hall as well as the tremendous effort by everyone that works in the building to deliver the highest possible standards.”

National Librarian, Dr John Scally said:“Our national collections are mostly housed in Edinburgh, so joining Kelvin Hall was a great opportunity to extend our reach to the most populous city in Scotland. Kelvin Hall is the home of our moving image, sound and digital collections, and we are continually finding new ways to take our collections to the people of Glasgow.

“Although it comes as no surprise, we’re thrilled the space has gained a five-star rating from VisitScotland and we look forward to working with our partners to further develop the visitor experience.”

Steph Scholten, Director of The Hunterian, University of Glasgow, said: “Kelvin Hall is a truly special facility that has transformed the ways in which The Hunterian at the University of Glasgow makes its collections accessible to ever-widening audiences. This five-star rating from VisitScotland is a real endorsement of the outstanding scale and quality of our offer.”

A free family fun day is being held within Kelvin Hall next month to mark the second anniversary of the building having reopened to the public in 2016.

Taking place on Saturday, November 10th from noon until 4pm, a programme of free activities themed around the circus and carnival will be on offer, including circus-themed films at the National Library; art and craft workshops; tumbling taster sessions at Aerial Edge; Glasgow Club Gymnastics Academy demonstrations and animal skull handling sessions from The Hunterian.

A number of other visitor attractions in Glasgow have also collected VisitScotland awards recently.

Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, the Gallery of Modern Art (GoMA) and the Riverside Museum have each attained the national tourism organisation’s Taste Our Best Award; recognising their commitment to serving and promoting high-quality, locally-sourced produce.

Both Kelvingrove and the Riverside are also shortlisted in the best visitor attraction category at the regional final of the Scottish Thistle Awards – considered Scotland’s tourism industry ‘Oscars’ – which will be announced at Glasgow’s Oran Mor on Thursday, November 29th.

For more information about Kelvin Hall, visit https://kelvinhall.org.uk/. For more details about 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 five overarching strategies: Marketing, Events, Quality and Sustainability, Inclusive Tourism, International Engagement.

• 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
• 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)
• For holiday information on Scotland go to www.visitscotland.com
• For information about business tourism in Scotland go to www.conventionscotland.com

2018 Year of Young People

• The Year of Young People (YoYP 2018) will inspire Scotland through its young people aged 8 to 26, celebrating their achievements, valuing their contributions to communities and creating new opportunities for them to shine locally, nationally and globally
• Central to YoYP 2018 will be a celebratory events programme that puts young people at the heart of its development and delivery, creating new and valuable experiences for young Scots and the wider public, with links to the inaugural 2018 European Championships.
• Over 200 young people throughout Scotland are currently being recruited to become YoYP 2018 Ambassadors. Ambassadors will ensure that people and organisations in their communities know about what’s happening and will lead on projects and activities to create events and opportunities to celebrate young people.
• The Year of Young People will have six themes which were developed in co-production with young people themselves:
• Participation – looking at how young people can influence public services and decisions which affect their lives
• Education – creating a stronger role for young people in shaping their learning
• Health and Wellbeing – supporting young people to lead healthier, active lives and have opportunities to learn about and improve their mental health and resilience
• Equality and Discrimination – broadcasting the value of young Scots, challenging negative perceptions of young people, and supporting young people to take leading roles in challenging discrimination in all its forms.
• Enterprise and regeneration – celebrating young people’s role in innovation, entrepreneurship and the Scottish economy as well as making Scotland a greener and more pleasant place to live
• Culture – celebrating young people’s talent and contribution to Scottish culture and arts.
• Further information on what’s happening and how people can get involved can be found on the new website www.yoyp2018.scot or @YOYP2018 on Twitter.

Contact:
Janice Macgregor
Senior Corporate Press & Social Media Manager
janice.macgregor@visitscotland.com
0131 472 2324

Source: VisitScotland

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