The area of the West Highlands and Inner Hebrides, known as Argyll, is, strangely, often overlooked by first time visitors, and many tour companies. Yet as an area it can boast 3,175 miles of coastline, 60 castles,
25 inhabited islands, 14 world-class distilleries, 32 clan seats, Europe’s highest concentration of primitive rock art at Kilmartin, the cradle of Scottish Christianity at Iona, the site where the first kings of Scotland were crowned at Dunadd, wonderful golf courses, stunning wildlife and superb food, and more empty sandy beaches than you can imagine.
Argyll has always featured heavily in our See Scotland differently programme, and is also where Heather and I spend much of our leisure time, so I was delighted this week to be asked to address the annual Argyll & Isles Tourism Summit, which brought together businesses from across the area’s tourism sector gather to plan – both individually and collectively – to encourage more visitors to come, for more time, to do more activities and sightseeing. We look forward to offering many more holiday ideas in the area over the coming months and years – its odd to think that an area as rich in potential is still a hidden gem.