Portree iCentre’s Refurbishment To Include Upgraded Digital Facilities

EDINBURGH, Scotland, 2017-May-03 — /Travel PR News/ — A VisitScotland iCentre on Skye which welcomed 151,000 visitors last year is to temporarily relocate next month to allow for refurbishment to take place.

Portree iCentre will be undergoing refurbishment from 2 May, to provide a fantastic new facility with opportunities for visitors, locals and businesses. During the refurbishment, the iCentre will temporarily relocate to the nearby Royal Hotel on Bank Street, which is in a prominent position, located very close to the iCentre in order to minimise disruption for visitors.

VisitScotland is committed to providing an iCentre that not only meets, but exceeds the needs of our customers. The new-look centre will include an upgrade of the iCentre’s digital facilities and free wi-fi. Research has shown that visitors prefer to use their own devices to access content and free wi-fi provision enables this.

The new layout will also include racking for literature, large scale wall graphics and local and national wall maps to help visitors plan their journey. New zoning is being introduced to assist visitors with finding everything they need.

The refurbishment, which is expected to take two weeks, is in-keeping with VisitScotland’s customer experience strategy and the iCentre will benefit from a complete internal redesign as well as refreshed VisitScotland branding, ensuring an optimal experience that inspires customers at this much-used centre.

The usual accommodation and ticketing services will continue to be available and there will be no impact on opening hours.

VisitScotland is taking the opportunity to redevelop this site between the Easter period and prior to the busiest summer season.

It is hoped the refurbishment will increase the impact the iCentre has on the visitor economy, encouraging locals and visitors alike to stay longer and spend more on Skye, across the Highlands and Scotland.

Scott Armstrong, VisitScotland Regioonal Partnerships Director, said: “Our iCentres remain at the heart of VisitScotland’s visitor information delivery – we are focused on running the right centres in the right places, with the right look and at the right cost.

“Portree iCentre is hugely popular with visitors, and it has been so well used that it is now in need of refurbishment. The new-look iCentre will allow us to deliver information in a modern environment where visitors can choose from a variety of tools to help them see, do and spend more during their stay.

“I would like to say how grateful we are to The Royal Hotel for agreeing to rent us space in the front entrance and guest lounge and enabling our passionate staff to continue to provide visitors with quality information and inspiration on what to see and do from a nearby and accessible location.”

For more information on VisitScotland’s information provision strategy, please visit 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:
    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/
  • 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

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:
Kim Walton
Corporate Press Officer
North Region, Expo
Kim.Walton@visitscotland.com
01224 269187
Out of hours – 0131 472 2324

Source:  VisitScotland