Thistle award winners honoured
Sustainable tourism high on agenda at glittering celebration
Sustainablility key part of judging criteria; five awards go to businesses with sustainable core value; top award to sustainable transport provider
Following an OBE and then a knighthood, the founder of Britain’s biggest rail and bus provider has now been given yet another reason to celebrate – a prestigious Scottish Silver Thistle Award.
Sir Moir Lockhead, Chief Executive of Aberdeen-based FirstGroup, has been honoured by VisitScotland for his outstanding contribution to the country’s tourism industry.
At a glittering awards ceremony hosted by top Scottish impressionist Ronni Ancona at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre last night, Sir Moir was praised by VisitScotland Chairman Mike Cantlay.
Mr Cantlay said: “Tourism growth is critical to the future of Scotland and pioneers such as Sir Moir epitomise how this country’s entrepreneurial spirit creates global leaders.”
Fiona Hyslop, MSP, Minister for Culture and External Affairs, said: “As a key sector of the Scottish economy, tourism is making a vital contribution to the recovery.
All the award winners are setting the standard for the industry, ensuring that quality shines through in Scotland’s tourism offering and encouraging the sector to grow.”
This year’s Scottish Thistle Awards introduced two new categories, with the Glasgow School of Art taking the inaugural prizes for Heritage Experience and Retail Tourism.
In what is the country’s Year of Food and Drink, the Isle of Eriska Hotel, which has recently attained five-star gold status from VisitScotland’s Quality and Standards team, took the Taste of Scotland Award.
Latest research shows that bus travel among visitors to Scotland went up by 55 per cent between 2009 and 2010, while rail travel increased by 26 per cent over the same period.
Sir Moir said: “FirstGroup is much more than just a public transport operator. We are crucial to tourism in the areas we operate. For example, we are responsible for moving millions of visitors around Scotland every year.
“ScotRail alone moves more than 77 million passengers per annum. And according to our ScotRail customer profile, more than six million of those are using our services while on holiday.
“A good transport network helps encourage people to visit and return to Scotland.”
Other award winners with sustainable tourism as a primary and implicit core value included: Rabbie’s Trail Burners (Innovation Award), Isle of Eriska (Taste of Scotland Award), EAE Leaflets (Sustainable Tourism Award), Scottish Seabird Centre (Marketing Award), Wilderness Scotland (Extra Mile Award medium-size business category)
Valere Tjolle
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