We’ve been selling Stirling to the world at one of the country’s biggest tourism events.

This is a great part of Scotland, so we were really pleased to team up with Stirling Council, who provide much of the funding for the event and help local attractions and businesses to best promote the area. A group of us, including Blair Drummond Safari & Adventure Park and The National Wallace Monument, ran a joint stand at Expo 2010, a trade fair in Glasgow packed with international tourism bosses looking for places to take their customers.

Stirling Castle brought a splash of colour with a group of costumed performers touring the Exhibition Centre to promote next year’s opening of the refurbished Renaissance royal palace. They included a king, queen, ambassador and a court jester. These were such a hit that business people from Europe, India, China, north and south America all asked to have their photos taken with them.

The stand, which also included representatives from the Steamship Sir Walter Scott Ltd, Stirling Old Town Jail, Stirling District Tourism and the University of Stirling, was even awarded the prize for having the most effective personnel at the show by organisers VisitScotland. This reflects the enthusiasm with which the different organisations worked together to promote the region. All of which, we hope, is good news for everyone in and around Stirling as it will hopefully mean more holidaymakers coming to enjoy our visitor attractions, hotels, restaurants, pubs, shops and giving a welcome boost to the local economy.