A remote Sutherland beach is proving a big hit among real and online searchers.
Sandwood Bay sits on the north-west coast of Scotland, in a hard-to-access spot that made it one of the best-kept secrets in the Highlands.
But in the age of the internet, tourism no longer relies on word of mouth – and Sandwood has been revealed as the online favourite.
On average, 1,000 people a month from across the UK search for Sandwood Bay, on the North Coast 500 route and famous for its imposing sea stack and its ghost stories, on VisitScotland.com.
It is the only beach mentioned by name in the top ten list of searches. The terms “Scottish beaches” and “beaches in Scotland” are in second place with 260 searches.
The research forms part of VisitScotland’s new Insight paper, Coastal Tourism in Scotland, which is published today and which reveals the industry is worth £323 million to the economy.
The paper also shows that Scottish beaches are hugely popular among Londoners, with more than a quarter (27.6 per cent) of internet searches outside Scotland originating in the UK capital.
Other findings show that coastal locations in Scotland are most popular among visitors from the North West and Merseyside, who take an average of 108,000 trips each year. 35- to 44-year-olds enjoy more coastal visits than any other demographic, with 378,000 trips and £76 million spend per year.
Thurso-based surfer Mark Boyd, who has competed around the world as a member of the Scottish National Surfing Team, said: “There aren’t many west-facing beaches on the Scottish mainland so Sandwood Bay is a great spot for surfing in the summer months, where you don’t find many good waves elsewhere, because it is exposed to the swell of the Atlantic. The quality of the waves at Sandwood Bay is really high and compares to some of the best beach breaks in France.”
Malcolm Roughead, chief executive of VisitScotland, said: “Scotland boasts an incredible coastline with some of the finest beaches in the world, with seaside breaks playing a vital role in the country’s visitor economy.
“Our coastal tourism in Scotland paper gives a fascinating insight into who visits our beaches, and why. It is no surprise that the beautiful and mysterious Sandwood Bay captures the imagination of so many people around Britain, but its majesty can only be truly appreciated at first hand.”
