{"id":7827,"date":"2017-05-16T08:17:42","date_gmt":"2017-05-16T07:17:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thewhiskylady.net\/?p=7827"},"modified":"2017-05-16T08:52:14","modified_gmt":"2017-05-16T07:52:14","slug":"whisky-tourism-better-smarter-stronger","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thewhiskylady.net\/whisky-tourism-better-smarter-stronger\/","title":{"rendered":"Whisky Tourism Could Be Better, Smarter, Stronger"},"content":{"rendered":"

Here it is:\u00a0during my latest Scottish visit, I realised – once again<\/em> – that there’s still a very long way to go before visitors can get the most out of their distillery tours.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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I’m not going into some name-dropping\/public shaming here (and anyway, if you follow me on social media, you’ll probably figure out which distillery made me go :\/)<\/em>, that’s really not the point of this article. It’s actually more of a hopeful plea to distilleries to take even the most basic-tour visitors more seriously.<\/p>\n

Yes, I saw a guide answering “hmm not sure<\/em> #LeaveMeAlone” to very basic questions such as “what makes this whisky smokier than this one<\/em>” or go “yeah you’re so right<\/em> #DontBotherMeAndLetMeFinishMySpeech” when this posh Londoner interupted the warehouse explanations to say to the world that Single Malts were better than blends, oh, and, only Scotch. Are we still seriously there? I mean, not blaming this guy for having this opinion, but don’t you think the guide, who’s supposed to know his\/her whisky would stand up to this and actually seize the opportunity to educate the visitors? Oh hell no… Time is counted, you should have taken the \u00a390 1h30 tour if you wanted a bespoke experience -__-<\/p>\n

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So yes, I visited this world-famous distillery, owned by a huge spirits group, taking the most basic tour they were running at the speed of light every 15 minutes. What stroke me first, was the lack of history: when all newly-built distilleries (which may rely more on tourism revenue I hear you say…)<\/em> I visited in the past put so much efforts into going back in time and even sometimes find some slightly far-fetched historical facts to link their very recent distillery to, you’d think an Established-1830 distillery would have A LOT to say when it comes to history… Well you’ll probably be as disappointed as I was as we probably spent 35 seconds discussing this aspect.<\/p>\n

And what I just said about the history part also applied to craft, territory and other important topics that would deserve more than a one-minute explanation. Hopefully, I already visited many distilleries and my passion for whisky isn’t going to be in jeopardy because of a disappointing tour. But I’m not thinking about me here, more of the people that were visiting with me, maybe it was their first time discovering a distillery? And they were curious, they had many relevant questions to ask… And they didn’t get them answered.<\/p>\n

I just think this is a pity at a time when educational efforts brands are showing are more and more important. I think this is a pity for one of the most visited distillery in Scotland. I think this is a pity for us, whisky lovers, who would probably be missing the opportunity to welcome many new members in our community.<\/p>\n

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You know my passion for whisky tourism, especially Scotch tourism, as I dedicated my whole master’s degree researches during my uni years to this very question: how can Scotch whisky distilleries improve the visitor experience?<\/p>\n

Figures of tourists visiting Scotch distilleries have been on the rise since a few years, hitting record-breaking numbers, so let’s capitalise on those and turn them into fellow whiskyheads \ud83d\ude00<\/p>\n

For distilleies, there’s one simple question you should be asking yourself: at the end of the day, are those tourists likely to grow an interest for whisky? If the answer is closer to IDK or “who cares”, then you should probably rethink your tourism strategy.<\/p>\n

So as I promised this article won’t simply be about telling you about a bad experience I had #StoryTime, here’s just some thoughts for those distilleries that would like to enhance their visitor experience:<\/p>\n

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