Scottish tourist route picks up top award from travel writers

A stunning Scottish tourist route has collected a Merit award from the British Guild of Travel Writers Annual Tourism Awards.

The award, presented earlier this week at Inverness Botanic Gardens to Gaelle Delagrave, head of brand and communications at the North Coast 500, is the culmination of a nomination which was initially made by travel writer Vivien Devlin, a member of the British Guild of Travel Writers.

The North Coast 500 was selected from around 85 entries for the UK category of the BGTW’s Annual Travel Awards, to reach the top 10. This shortlist was then voted on by members of the Guild to select a top five, with the North Coast 500 taking a Merit position.

Since its launch in May 2015, the North Coast 500 has been credited with increasing visitor numbers in the North Highlands, and creating 200 new jobs.

Often described as Scotland’s answer to America’s Route 66, the North Coast 500 has been named one of the top road trips in the UK by Rough Guides, attracted five stars on TripAdvisor, and reached an audience of around one billion people globally.

Gaelle Delagrave, head of brand and communications at the North Coast 500, with the British Guild of Travel Writers Award

Bringing together a route of just over 500 miles of stunning coastal scenery, the North Coast 500 naturally follows the main roads along the coastal edges of the North Highlands, taking in the regions of Wester Ross, Sutherland, Caithness, Easter Ross, the Black Isle and Inverness-shire.

Gaelle said: ‘The North Coast 500 launched in May 2015 and has grown to become one of the most popular road trips in the world.

‘It gives me great pleasure to collect this prestigious award from the British Guild of Travel Writers, and I would like to extend my sincere thanks to the awards team, for helping to highlight the positive impact that the North Coast 500 has had on tourism in the North Highlands of Scotland.’

The official North Coast 500 route begins and ends in Inverness at Inverness Castle which, perched on top of a hill, is the perfect starting point to the route and offers unparalleled views over the capital city of the Highlands.

The North Coast 500 was created by the North Highland Initiative (NHI), a non-profit organisation established by HRH, Prince Charles in 2005 in an effort to develop economic growth across the North Highlands.

NHI works across three main sectors; food and drink, tourism and built environment and it was through the Tourism Project Board, that the idea of the NC500 was born.