Tickets are selling fast for this year’s rejuvenated Highland Military Tattoo – with visitors to travel from as far as the US and Down Under.
Organisers of the event are “confident” the September 8-10 show at Fort George will attract far more interest than in previous years.
Dwindling ticket sales and funding left the future of the event in doubt last year, with bosses reporting a £40,000 loss over the last three tattoos.
But the organisers announced before Christmas that they would press on with plans for this year’s event – and have overhauled the way it is promoted.
Major General Seymour Monro, the Tattoo director, has been conducting radio interviews in North America and believed the profile of the event was growing.
He said: “We’ve got the programme all sorted out. We’ve got all the acts sorted out and the programme is going to be great – a terrific show.
“Ticket sales are looking up. We started our marketing much later this year, quite deliberately. We started at the end of May.
“We’re confident we will get enough seats filled this year to make the whole thing viable.”
He added: “We’ve been trying to spread the word further, particularly abroad and the USA, as well as Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
“I did an interview a couple of weeks ago which has now aired. We’re seeing an increase in ticket sales from overseas, both North America and Europe. It’s very good news.”
Previously held at the Northern Meeting Park in Inverness, the event was scrapped after 60 years in 2011 due to cost-cutting measures, before being reborn in 2014 at Fort George.
But it emerged in October that a funding shortfall and poor ticket sales had left a questionmark hanging over the future of Scotland’s second biggest military tattoo.
This year’s tattoo will be based around an RAF theme and will also feature re-enactments celebrating the history of Fort George itself and the soldiers who have served there.
Massed pipe bands, a military band, armed forces displays, a new overseas act, traditional Highland dancers, singing and competitions also feature, with an additional aerial display from a World War I aircraft, an RAF Typhoon fly-past and spectacular fireworks to complete the family event.
