The man credited with making the Highlands a leading destination for cruise liners has been honoured with a top industry accolade.
Captain Iain Dunderdale, cruise development manager at Cruise Highlands, received an outstanding achievement award for his contribution over the past 25 years.
He was instrumental in setting up Cruise Europe and was chairman and vice chairman of the organisation for 19 years. A key task was to encourage American cruise liners to come to Europe.
Mr Dunderdale was also pivotal to the creation of Cruise Scotland, based at the Port of Cromarty Firth in Invergordon, and remains secretary today.
Cruise business at the Port of Cromarty Firth rose from very humble beginnings in 1989 with one ship calling carrying around 200 passengers. In 2015, 57 cruise ships are due to call at the Highland port carrying an estimated 90,000 passengers.
He received the awardat the Seatrade Cruise Awards in Hamburg recently.
These awards are among the highest accolades in the cruise industry.
The Outstanding Achievement Award is presented in recognition of an outstanding contribution to the growth of the European cruise industry.
Mr Dunderdale said: “I was astonished and delighted and honoured to be awarded.
“I have been able to develop the business in Invergordon and Scotland from small beginnings to being a major player. The number of passengers coming now is just astonishing. One ship is now bringing more passengers than people live in the town of Invergordon and they go all over the whole Highlands, along the west and north coast, Inverness and Loch Ness and Morayshire.
“I am just delighted that it’s become so successful and I want to carry on seeing this success. Bookings are already looking good for 2016 and 2017.”
Bob Buskie, chief executive of the Port of Cromarty Firth, said: “Iain has contributed so much to developing the cruise ship market at the port, including this year which is a record breaking year for us, and thoroughly deserves his title of ‘Mr Cruise’ Scotland.”
“He has travelled the world for 25 years promoting the Port of Cromarty Firth and the Highlands as the number one cruise destination in Scotland, and has personally helped contribute millions of pounds to the local economy.”