Jessie Mac’s hostel in Birnam, Perthshire received VisitScotland’s Five Star Quality Assurance Award

EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND, 2016-Sep-05 — /Travel PR News/ — A Perthshire hostel has scooped VisitScotland’s Five Star Quality Assurance Award in recognition of its high standards.

Jessie Mac’s, located in Birnam, received the Five Star award from the national tourism organisation at its latest grading visit, making it the only five star rated hostel in the Perthshire region.

Opened in September 2011, Jessie Mac’s has been working towards becoming the’ best and greenest small hostel in Scotland’ and in November 2014 was recognised nationally for their management of environmental impacts at the Vision in Business for the Environment of Scotland (VIBES) Awards.

A refurbished Victorian manse with 7 bedrooms, Jessie Mac’s offers a mix of self-catering hostel and bed & breakfast accommodation and also boasts a Gold Award from the Green Tourism scheme for their commitment to sustainability.

Based in Birnam, just ten minutes’ walk from the neighbouring village of Dunkeld, the hostel is a perfect base to discover the mountains, waters, rich culture and heritage of Highland Perthshire.

Jessie Mac’s also has a Taste Our Best award for its use of local and quality Scottish produce.

VisitScotland’s Five Star Quality Assurance Award recognises serviced accommodation businesses which achieve the highest levels of excellence. Businesses that achieve the award excel in areas of customer care and hospitality, showing evidence of a real commitment to development and training.

Brenda Roddy, owner of Jessie Mac’s, said:

“People often think that you either have quality or ‘go green’. It took a lot of hard work to get this 5^th star and hopefully it’ll show that you really can achieve high quality and good ethics. It’s just good business practice.”

Jim Clarkson, Regional Director, VisitScotland, said:

“Congratulations to Brenda, Dot and Mairi on achieving their Five Star Quality Assurance Award. Jessie Mac’s offer guests an exceptional standard of accommodation while continuing to lead the way when it comes to sustainability – they are a shining example of best practice and their award is thoroughly deserved.

“Our Quality Assurance scheme helps businesses to reach their full potential and truly shine. The scheme is about more than just the ‘stars’ on the door – it’s about the entire visitor experience, about investing in your business and making it as economically sustainable as it can possibly be.”

Developed and improved for over 30 years, VisitScotland’s Quality Assurance schemes are world-leading and provide a trusted, independent and impartial source of information for visitors. They allow businesses not just to meet visitor expectations, but exceed them.

Green Tourism (GT) has been in operation since 1997 and is the largest and most established schemes of its type in the World. GT has over 2300 members throughout the UK and Ireland, with over 850 members in Scotland. In Scotland GT was developed through a partnership between VisitScotland and Green Business UK, who continue to develop and operate the scheme.

Launched in September 2013,Taste Our Best is a joint initiative between the national tourism organisation and the Scottish Government. Assessors rate the overall eating experience, the extent to which Scottish produce (at least 40%) is used and promoted, and staff knowledge of the produce on the menu and its provenance.

For more information about Jessie Mac’s, visit www.jessiemacs.co.uk

For more information about VisitScotland’s Quality Assurance scheme, please visit www.visitscotland.org/quality_assurance.aspx

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:
  1. 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
  2. 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
  3. 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
  4. Customer Experience: we will provide information and inspiration to visitors both locally and globally via their preferred medium of choice
  5. 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
  6. Inclusive Tourism: we will strive to make tourism in Scotland inclusive and available to all
  7. Working in Partnership: we will listen to and work with the industry, partners and communities to shape our offering and support
• 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/
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• For information about business events in Scotland go to www.conventionscotland.com

Year of Innovation, Architecture and Design 2016

• 2016 will shine a spotlight on Scotland’s achievements in innovation, architecture and design through a wide-ranging, variety of new and existing activity.
• The Year of Innovation, Architecture and Design begins on 1 January 2016 and ends on 31 December 2016 and will build on the momentum generated by the 2015 Year of Food and Drink as well as previous years including Homecoming Scotland 2014, the Year of Creative and the Year of Natural.
• Through a series of exciting events and activity, the year will showcase Scotland’s position as an “innovation nation”, its outstanding built heritage, and its thriving, internationally acclaimed creative industries sector.
• The Year of Innovation, Architecture and Design is a Scottish Government initiative being led by VisitScotland, and supported by a variety of partners including Scottish Government, Creative Scotland, Architecture + Design Scotland, Scottish Tourism Alliance, Scottish Enterprise, The National Trust for Scotland, Historic Environment Scotland, Highlands and Islands Enterprise and The Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland (RIAS).
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CONTACT

Stewart Ross
Corporate Press Officer – National
Agri-tourism, North Region, Sports Tourism
Stewart.Ross@visitscotland.com
0131 472 2052
Out of hours – 0131 472 2324

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