A pub in Edinburgh and an outdoor adventure park in East Lothian won the Scottish tourism industry’s equivalent of the Oscars at last night’s Scottish Thistle Awards at the EICC.
This is the 25th year of the awards and at the start of the evening host Jennifer Reoch asked for anyone who had ever won a Thistle Award to stand up. There were award winners all over the room, and at that stage some hopefuls for 2018.
There are many categories and opportunities for businesses to be recognised among their peers. Teuchters Landing in Leith was named Best Pub fighting off competition from across Scotland.
Thistle judges commended Teuchters Landing for their “strong relationships with both distilleries and breweries and a commitment to staff training”. They noted the pub’s whisky hoopla game The Hoop of Destiny has attracted visitors “from far and wide”.
Warren Blair, of Teuchters Landing said: “All of us at Teuchters Landing are truly honoured to have received this fantastic award. To be recognised for all our hard work and win the regional final was incredible and now to receive the national final is the best start to the year we could ask for. We would again like to thank all of our customers, local and international. They have pushed us to continue to improve and maintain high standards and without their continued support we would not be where we are today.”
The adventure playground in East Lothian that offers visitors the chance of cable wakeboarding, inflatable ringo rides, tackling a rope course over water, off-road segway trails and a dual biplane trail won the award for Best Outdoor/Adventure Experience.
Foxlake Adventures is an independent organisation based around a man made loch just outside Dunbar.
Judges were impressed by Foxlake Adventures’ commitment to ensuring their strong core values echoed throughout staff training, business growth and customer service – and praised them for delivering an “excellent customer experience”.
James Barbour, Director at Foxlake Adventures, said: “We were initially delighted to have won the Regional Finals, so to come away from the event having won the National Final is a fantastic achievement. We have an extremely committed and hardworking team at Foxlake and for our service delivery to be recognised at a national level is a testament to the endeavour shown by the entire team. We are passionate about providing the very best in customer service delivery and to be recognised alongside some of the country’s leading tourism businesses is a great honour.”
Rebecca Brooks, chair of the Scottish Thistle Awards Industry Panel and VisitScotland Board member, said: “The Scottish Thistle Awards are Scotland’s premier awards for the tourism industry and for 25 wonderful years they have been shining a spotlight on success, innovation and excellence.
“Congratulations to all of our national winners of the 2017/18 Scottish Thistle Awards. We are delighted to celebrate with them during this milestone year. They represent the best of Scottish tourism and epitomise the strength and depth of the sector which continues to innovate and excel in giving visitors a high quality experience.
“Tourism is more than a holiday experience – it creates jobs and sustains communities. The Scottish Thistle Awards lets us recognise the unsung heroes of our industry who show real dedication and enthusiasm for Scotland’s tourism industry.”
It was a fantastic evening and I was at the event courtesy of VisitScotland. The entertainment was provided by Sanjeev Kohli who co-hosted the event with Jennifer from STV.
The evening opened with fabulous music from Hannah Rarity the BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician of the Year 2018, and Paul Zerdin, a winner of America’s Got Talent, showed off the ventriloquism skills that made him a winner.
The venue at the EICC was staged in tiers of beautifully decorated tables and Cabinet Minister Fiona Hyslop paid tribute to the many worthy winners who are responsible for Scotland’s growing tourism industry.
Ms Hyslop had been at the Assembly Rooms earlier in the evening where she spoke at the St Patrick’s Day reception held by Irish Consul General to Scotland, Mark Hanniffy. She handed over the main award of the evening, the Thistle Award, to Willie Macleod.
Delighted to make the presentation to a very worthy winner of the Silver Thistle Award Willie MacLeod #ThistlesAwards #Thistles25 https://t.co/E71kubwFsw
— Fiona Hyslop (@FionaHyslop) March 15, 2018
Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.
