Wealth & Finance International - Business Awards 2015

www.wealthandfinance-intl.com 13 Best Speciality Visitor Attraction - UK This unique experience, combining heritage and modern distilling innovation, is the highlight of the Highlands. Tony Dick talks us through the experience and explains what the future has in store for this top tourist attraction. Company: The Scotch Whisky Experience Name: Tony Dick Web Address: www.scotchwhiskyexperience.co.uk Address: 354 Castlehill, The Royal Mile, Edinburgh EH1 2NE The Scotch Whisky Experience is a five-star rated visitor attraction located at the top of Edinburgh’s Royal Mile. The fully guided tour aims to educate and inspire visitors about Scotch whisky, covering all aspects of production, geography, and appreciation. From the same building, we also operate Amber restaurant and whisky bar a specialist whisky shop, and a newly refurbished private events suite. Our events suite also hosts Whisky industry events such as the International Spirits Challenge as well as our ‘Scotch Whisky Training School’. Our guiding philosophy is summed up by our company values Authen- ticity, Passion, People, Learning, Excellence and Fun. We maintain our high standards by consistently setting high goals for ourselves (such as maintaining our Visit Scotland 5 star rating), and meeting them by investing in our team with an ongoing programme of training in both service excellence and product knowledge. The pace of change in our industry has increased in recent years with a widening geographic customer profile, technology advances and greater customer expectations of product choice and experience. To stay at the forefront within Scotland’s tourism sector we proactively anticipate these changes through ongoing and targeted market research and have invested heavily in recent years to deliver a 5 star product in line with market demands. We have managed to achieve this objective, and our customer profile has seen growth in all geographic areas in recent years, with the most significant growth being seen from the BRIC countries and our major European markets. By increasing the scope of tours on offer and range of products in our shop we have been able to match customers’ expectations effectively, generating profits which have been re-invested as part of a rolling investment programme. However the main factor to our success is that we differentiate ourselves from our competitors. Unlike many museums and attractions, we offer a guide-driven experience that ensures a highly personal educational encounter for each visitor. Many of our fellow Scotch whisky attractions (understandably) focus on the promotion of a single brand or portfolio, but our unique posi- tion in the industry means we can promote the sector as a whole in a remarkably even-handed fashion, making us an ideal first stop for whisky novices. Another differentiating factor is our commitment to welcoming inter- national guests. The tour is translated into 15 languages, and we have touch screen information in 20 languages. We differ from many organisations, not just in our sector, in the training we provide for all members of the team. Distillery visits, regular team tastings, our Whisky Training School, and regular monitoring and in- house training results in a team with an immense wealth of enthusiasm and knowledge to pass on to our visitors. We also believe we are unique in our use of many different types of media and learning styles to convey whisky information. Very few venues could combine a light-hearted barrel car ride with a the viewing of a historical collection of worldwide significance and result in a coherent experience, but sound knowledge and a passion for Scotch whisky is the common thread running through everything. We are delighted to have been received this award and credit our success to having a compelling story to tell. We began by matching an innovative idea to a gap in the market, and that spirit of innovation has remained in the business to this day. Within the company awards such as this create a sense of anticipation and excitement and a great morale boost, and in the wider industry the success stories of the award-winners hopefully inspire other businesses to further enhance Scotland’s excellent tourism product. There are exciting times ahead for our firm, as 2015 draws to a close. Following a record-breaking seven years of uninterrupted growth in both visitor numbers and revenue, our Board of Directors is carefully consid- ering the possibilities for expansion of the business. Further develop- ments to open up new business areas on our existing site are imminent, and feasibility studies are currently being conducted into potential whisky related business opportunities elsewhere. The Scotch Whisky Experience