The Enchanted Forest reveals over 70,000 visitors attend 15th anniversary show
The Enchanted Forest, Perthshire’s multi-award winning sound and light show, has confirmed today that just over 70,000 visitors attended this year’s 15th anniversary show, which closed on Sunday night, a 13% increase on the previous record-breaking year.
The 2016 show, shimmer, marked The Enchanted Forest’s 15th year and has been widely hailed by visitors as the best event to date with many visitors taking to social media channels to express their delight at the spectacle.
This year’s event broke all previous box office records, not only in ticket sales volumes, but also in speed of sale, with tickets selling out for this year’s show on 5th October, leaving many customers who had hadn’t planned to purchase in advance desperate for tickets.
It is estimated that the event’s impact on the local tourism economy is expected to exceed £3 million per annum with around 50% of all visitors to the event choosing to stay overnight in the area on their visit and over 90% citing the event as their main reason for visiting the area this Autumn.
Ian Sim, acting chairman of The Enchanted Forest Community Trust that runs The Enchanted Forest, commented:
“Once again an event that is run by the community, for the community, has excelled in driving tourism in Highland Perthshire during a traditionally quiet time of year and in putting Pitlochry firmly on the map. People have travelled from all over the world to see this year’s show and it has generated media interest from journalists in the USA, Canada, India, Russia and Australia as well as mainland Europe.
“This is a tremendous success for Highland Perthshire tourism businesses and we are deeply encouraged by the continued support of our visitors, many of them who return to the Forest year after year. It is a testimony to the hard work put in by the community that our visitors number continue to grow year on year, and that our show continues to go from strength to strength.”
The Enchanted Forest was once more headed up by the multi-award-winning creative team of Derek Allan as producer and creative director, Kate Bonney and Simon Hayes as lighting designers, and RJ McConnell and Jon Beales providing sound design and composition. Additional creative expertise was provided by leading creative companies including NL Productions, Squid Soup, 59 Productions and Vision Mechanics.
The event has won a string of awards this year including Best Large Event and the Chairman’s Award at the Scottish Event Awards, as well as the Tourism & Hospitality Award at the Scottish Rural Awards. It is also shortlisted for Best Cultural Event at the UK Event Awards, a prestigious Scottish Thistle Award for Best Event and a Perthshire Chamber of Commerce Business Start Award for Tourism & Leisure, the results of which will all be revealed at events later this month.
To help meet the growing demand, the show organisers have now opened up a mailing list for customers who wish to be notified about tickets going on sale for the 2017 show.