Taking tourism to new heights

VisitScotland Regional Leadership Director Paula Ward talks about the Scotland is Out of this World campaign......

16th July 1969 is a date set in history – the date that Apollo 11 carrying Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins formed the three-man mission which set off to land on the surface of the moon.

As the world celebrates this momentous occasion, which resulted in Armstrong taking ‘one giant leap for mankind’ just four days later, we are delighted to unveil a new space-themed map highlighting Scotland’s links to space exploration and the first Moonwalk.

Scotland has long been associated with the Moonwalk – in 1972 Neil Armstrong became the first and only Freeman of Langholm in Dumfries & Galloway, the ancestral home of Clan Armstrong. Fifty years later, as the national tourism organisation also celebrates 50 years, it was from that ancestral home, Gilnockie Tower, that the world’s first Highland #Coosmonaut, BuzzBò, embarked on his journey into near space.

We launched the Scotland is Out of this World campaign at Langholm Primary School in May where I was blown away by the reaction from the children and delighted by some of their suggestions for names. Thanks to 7-year-old Peter Lunan from Dunblane who won the competition to name the Coosmonaut – Buzz from Buzz Aldrin and Bò the Gaelic word for cow.

Along the way, BuzzBò has travelled throughout the country visiting the Scottish Dark Sky Observatory, Dynamic Earth and the Glasgow Science Centre. He’s rubbed shoulders with celebrities on the red carpet at the Edinburgh International Film Festival, embarked on strenuous training activities and ultimately, he’s helped capture the attention of an audience young and old.

Scotland’s reputation for some of the best places to view the dark skies and stargaze is world-renowned – it is home to the UK’s first Dark Sky Park Galloway Forest Park, and the most northerly Dark Sky Park in the world at Tomintoul & Glenlivet.

But did you know that Bonnybridge is the official UFO capital of Scotland? There are around 300 sightings in the village every year.

And there are craters with Scottish connections on Mars and the Moon?

From Loch Airigh in the Outer Hebrides with links to Jupiter, and the Isle of Coll which is Scotland’s Dark Sky Island, to Jedburgh in the Scottish Borders with its links to Neptune, there are attractions and locations across the country that all boast fascinating connections to outer space.

The sky is not the limit in Scotland. In VisitScotland’s 50th anniversary year, we hope that the story of our Highland #Coosmonaut will help inspire visitors to Scotland for years to come, the home of out-of-this-world experiences!

For more information, visit www.visitscotland.com/out-of-this-world