- A clear, starlit winter night across Loch Cluanie, Highlands.
Edinburgh, Scotland, 2016-Nov-16 — /Travel PR News/ — As Scotland prepares to witness a ‘supermoon’ tonight (Monday), a new video from VisitScotland is tempting astro tourists to explore strange new worlds via the country’s top dark sky hotspots.
The Dark Skies video, found here https://youtu.be/v8IQAUvopnI features amazing night-sky imagery taken from Scotland and encourages viewers to ‘look up’ and ‘stare into other worlds’.
The video was posted to the national tourism organisation’s official Facebook page and has so far been viewed almost 60,000 times.
Scotland is one of the best places in the world to go stargazing, and the ideal location to experience tonight’s supermoon.
It is so-named ‘supermoon’ because it’s the closest full moon to Earth since 1948 and as such it will appear one-third brighter and 14 per cent bigger than a normal full moon. A moon of this size won’t be seen again until 2034.
Light pollution free areas provide a natural view of the night sky and among the top spots in Scotland to see the supermoon will be Moffat in Dumfries and Galloway, which became Europe’s first ‘Dark Sky Town’ early this year.
Other places that offer the best views of the night sky include, Coll, the first ‘Dark Sky Island’ in Europe, and Galloway Forest Park, one of only six ‘Dark Sky Parks’ in Europe.
A recent report estimates that the Dark Sky Park is taking in an additional £500,000 over the winter months purely related to dark sky tourism with the expectation for that to rise to around £1 million.
In addition, nine locations on Skye have been officially named ‘Dark Discovery Sites’ for being the perfect spots for stargazing.
Jesse Beaman, a Dark Sky Ranger as well as co-owner of Viridian Skies, which specialises in astrophotography and stargazing holidays in Dumfries and Galloway, said: “Crossing a frosty landscape in Scotland by the light of the moon is one of the most magical experiences to be had. Scotland offers Dark Skies, lochs, mountains, woodland, rivers and beautiful shores to compliment the November ‘Supermoon’ and it’s an experience that should definitely not be missed.”
Malcolm Roughead, Chief Executive of VisitScotland, said: “Scotland’s best views aren’t confined to our awe-inspiring landscapes but reach high up into the night sky above. It is the ideal location to view tonight’s spectacular lunar event. Our Dark Skies video is truly out-of-this-world. I hope viewers will be inspired to seek out those special stargazing spots and explore far off places – from one of the best places on our planet.”
For more on Scotland’s dark skies, go to https://www.visitscotland.com/see-do/landscapes-nature/dark-sky-parks-sites/
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
- 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)
- For holiday information on Scotland go to www.visitscotland.com
- For information about business events in Scotland go to www.conventionscotland.com
2016 Year of Innovation, Architecture and Design - 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 started on 1 January 2016 and will end on 31 December 2016.It 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 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).
- The Year of Innovation, Architecture and Design is supported by £570,000 of Scottish Government funding.
- The Year of Innovation, Architecture and Design events fund is managed by EventScotland, part of VisitScotland’s Events Directorate.
- Join the conversation at #IAD2016
Contact:
Barbara Clark
Head of Corporate Communications
Corporate Media, Partnership Communications, Internal Communications
Barbara.Clark@visitscotland.com
0131 472 2212
Out of hours – 0131 472 2324
Source: Visit Scottland
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