Visitors to SBC museums reach new high
Wednesday, December 16 2009
The 2009-2010 season in Scottish Borders Council (SBC) museums has been the busiest ever with a record number of visitors passing through the doors at eleven museums and the ever-popular Harestanes Countryside Visitor Centre.
Figures show that in the period from April to the end of November 2009, just over 140,000 attendance's were recorded – an
increase of 49 per cent on the same period last year. This is about 18,000 more than the highest previous total which was
122,329 recorded in 1995.
Hawick Museum, Jedburgh Castle Jail, Mary Queen of Scots House and Borders Textile Towerhouse have already bettered or will better their highest ever recorded annual visitor figures. Harestanes Countryside Visitor Centre has posted its highest visitor numbers since 1996, while St Ronan’s Well’s, Old Gala House, Sir Walter Scott’s Courtroom and Halliwell’s House Museum have seen increases of more than 10 per cent on last year’s attendance.
Executive Member for Culture, Sport and Community Learning, Councillor Graham Garvie, is delighted: “These figures clearly show that our many attractions continue to provide a wide range of exhibitions, events and activities which appeal to locals and visitors to our region. While national events such as the Homecoming, the recession, the weak pound and more people holidaying in the area have contributed to the increase - there are several local factors at work such as the reopening of Drumlanrig’s Tower at Borders Textile Towerhouse, the removal of admission charges and many of our sites achieving or retaining four star awards from Visit Scotland. I am delighted with this achievement and look forward to seeing our museums and services continue to develop into the future.”
Jedburgh Castle Jail had its admission charges removed in 2008 and Mary Queen of Scots House, also Jedburgh, in 2009. Both sites have recorded more than 100 per cent increase in visitor numbers since the charges were removed and, in August alone, they shared almost 12,000 visitors which was more than either site recorded in a whole year before the charges were scrapped.
During the year, four sites underwent their grading in the Visit Scotland Visitor Attraction Grading Scheme with all four achieving a four star award. Hawick Museum and Jedburgh Castle Jail moved from a three star to four star award and Mary Queen of Scots Visitor Centre and Harestanes retained their four star status.
Notes
Figures for each site were as follows:
- Hawick Museum (open all year); visitors 2008-09 (complete year) 10,653; visitors 2009-10 (April – November) 10,452.
- Borders Textile Towerhouse (formerly Drumlanrig’s Tower) open all year; visitors 2007-08 (museum closed in 2008-9 for refurbishment) 4,623; visitors 2009-10 (April – November) 8,085.
- Jedburgh Castle Jail (open April – October); visitors 2008-09 (complete year) 14,168; visitors 2009-10 (April – November) 24,146.
- Mary Queen of Scots house (open March – November); visitors 2008-09 (complete year) 11,582; visitors 2009-10 (April-November) 25,796.
- Harestanes (open April – October); visitors 2008-09 (complete year) 19,850; visitors 2009-10 (April-November) 30,400.
These figures compare favourably with visitor figures produced by Visit Scotland for visitor attractions in the Scottish Borders where an increase of around 15 per cent on last year is indicated. http://www.visitscotland.org/visitor_attraction_barometer_september_2009.pdf
For more information visit www.scotborders.gov.uk/museums
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