Release: Welcome to the new Malt Whisky Trail

Offering visitors an immersive experience of whisky-making in Scotland, the world’s only Malt Whisky Trail in Speyside has been transformed to help visitors reimagine the trail as part of an eye-catching redesign and new digital destination.

Founded in the 1950s, the trail takes in some of Scotland’s most famous distilleries, in an area of the country with the world’s largest concentration of malt whisky distilleries and featuring some of the finest single malts and associated whisky masters.

Designed to reawaken the sleeping giant of the whisky and tourism industry, the brand refresh aims to reconnect the trail with whisky fans throughout the world while showcasing the many attractions the Speyside region has to offer

The trail will be positioned as a global ambassador for the whisky industry and the region, with a new website rich in digital content, geared towards increasing visitor footfall to the area by 10% over the next 5 years.

In 2015, Moray Speyside welcomed over 700,000 visitors to the region. Their visits were worth £105.7m to the local economy and sustain more than 2,500 jobs across the region.

The immersive website will help visitors imagine themselves in Speyside and plan their trip around the many whisky distillers and much more.

Chairman of the Malt Whisky Trail, James Johnston said:

 “The Malt Whisky Trail is an international icon of whisky tourism and features nine centres of whisky excellence across some of Scotland’s most beautiful landscapes.

The brand transformation is designed to make it easier for visitors to plan their trip to Speyside.  The website is part of a major initiative to promote the Speyside region as not just ‘Malt Whisky County’, but so much more.”

 Jo Robinson, VisitScotland Regional Director, said:

 “Whisky is one of Scotland’s biggest attractions, with one in five visitors making a trip to a distillery during their stay.  It is therefore very important we continue to promote our world famous whisky heritage.

Set amongst the world’s largest concentration of malt whisky distilleries, The Malt Whisky Trail is a one of a kind attraction and it is great to see the trail being given a refresh with a particular focus on the growing importance of digital.  I’m sure this will encourage even more visitors to experience ‘Malt Whisky Country’ and the many other attractions on offer in the Moray Speyside region.”

 Local MSP Richard Lochhead said:

“Speyside and Moray are famous worldwide for being home to more than half of Scotland’s malt whisky distilleries, attracting huge numbers of visitors to the area every year.

The Malt Whisky Trail is an iconic ambassador for Speyside malt and the wider whisky industry, and it’s great to see this initiative launched which will promote the internationally renowned trail as well as the other wealth of attractions that Moray has to offer.

I’m hopeful that it will boost visitor numbers and attract even more people to our unique part of Scotland.”