Visitor numbers boost for Edinburgh Castle

Edinburgh Castle has recorded its best-ever figures for the number of visitors it attracted during the winter.

A total of 264,521 people visited between November 2014 and last month, Historic Scotland said. The figure was an 11% increase on the previous record.

Several of the organisation's other attractions also had at least one record-breaking month during winter.

These included Orkney's Skara Brae, Urquhart Castle, Doune Castle, St Andrews Castle and Linlithgow Palace.

Diverse heritage

Stirling Castle saw record-breaking figures last month when it played host to the Great Tapestry of Scotland exhibition as part of its tour of Scotland, with visitor numbers increasing by 63% on the previous year.

In total, 439,229 people visited Historic Scotland's top ten sites during the winter period.

Culture Secretary Fiona Hyslop said: "These figures illustrate the year-round appeal of Scotland's diverse heritage sites which form a central part of our tourism offering, attracting people in their many millions each year.

"Edinburgh Castle has had a fantastic winter, welcoming more visitors than ever before whilst also providing the backdrop to a number of key events over the winter as we celebrated Scotland's winter festivals from St. Andrew's Day to Burns Night."

Stephen Duncan, Historic Scotland director of commercial and tourism, said: "As we look ahead to the upcoming summer season, this year marks another important one for us, with the completion of the Stirling Castle Tapestry project, a 15-year project to recreate the Hunt of the Unicorn Tapestries, whilst our main events programme will begin at Easter and run until Christmas across a number of our sites, helping to bring history to life."