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Thousands of liner passengers visit the Callanish Stones

 

An influx of international tourists swamped Stornoway after one of the busiest weeks of the cruise ship season.

 

Trade body, Cruise Scotland, estimates the cruise vessel stopovers are worth around £100 value per passenger per port so tourism providers are gearing up for what is turning into an important part of the economy.

 

Until recently, only a handful of ships would visit the Western Isles but now - thanks to successful, proactive marketing by Stornoway harbour - business is booming with well over 40 vessels with more than 12,000 passengers expected this summer.

 

This week extra coaches and drivers had to be drafted in from the mainland to cope with an influx of German, Swiss, Italian and French cruise tourists wanting to go sightseeing around the island sights.

 

It means businesses is spread across the rural villages as visitors buy Harris Tweed goods, arts and crafts, jewellery, gifts as well as coffee and cake at tourist attractions on their journey.

 

The trade also supports hundreds of jobs not just for island tour guides and the tourism industry but for island businesses which sell supplies to the ships.

 

The Callanish Standing Stones are mobbed this time of year with many thousands of people weekly.

 

Guides from the Western Isles Tour Guide Association were busy showing the hordes around Lewis.

 

Sarah Jurgergesson, a passenger assistant and translator onboard the MV Astor, said there were over 380 passengers on the ship which sailed from Germany.

 

She said the Hebrides was “one of the highlights of the cruise for many of the passengers - that’s why they booked this particular tour.”

 

Angus Mackenzie, manager of the Callanish Visitor Centre, and his 15 staff were run off their feet all day as waves of ship visitors snapped up Harris Tweed gifts and enjoyed a cup of coffee and local baking.

 

Mr Mackenzie praised Stornoway Port Authority’s strategy in targeting the cruise liner market in recent years which has developed into a booming trade for the island economy.

 

 

 

Cruise liner boom

23 May 2015