A new “world-class” attraction in the Highland capital is within touching distance – and the team making it happen believe it will cause a stir across Scotland.
The sight of tourists climbing the steps outside Inverness Castle, peering into the building and then retreating with a bewildered expression on their face is one we were used to seeing.
It had been happening for years. And on numerous occasions in the past, exasperated politicians, city and business leaders bemoaned the missed opportunity.
But that all started to change with the signing of the Inverness city region deal in early 2016.
A lot has changed since then.
Inverness Sheriff Court – a major barrier in the way of giving the castle a new start –found a new state-of-the-art home on Longman Road in March 2020.
That allowed the process to give Inverness Castle a more appropriate role in the city to properly begin and three years down the line, things are taking shape nicely.
Excitement building as opening date nears
Inverness Castle is on track to re-open as a tourist attraction in 2025.
We still have two years to wait. But at the moment, the signs look very good.
Councillor Ian Brown, co-leader of the Inverness Castle project delivery group, is excited about how things are shaping up.
“I remember being in one of the early meetings and it wasn’t all that positive,” he said.
“Government bodies saw it purely as a tourist event. But we’ve always sold it as a Highland event.
“We want it to be for local people. And for them to want to come again and again.”
New visuals of what the finished product will look like were released today.
And a video showcasing what we should expect from each section followed.
It is impressive. And it looks like this could be something that will transform the city centre.
Councillor Brown added: “There is a lot of work still to be done inside. But we believe this will be a world-class attraction.
“We see it becoming the number one visitor attraction in the Highlands. It will scream out ‘quality’.”
500,000 visitors target
Few people will be expecting the castle to rival a global phenomenon like the Loch Ness Monster.
But there is clearly a huge amount of tourists who arrive in Inverness, using it as a gateway to other places.
Like Loch Ness, Skye and the NC500.
If keeping people in Inverness for longer is the target, the castle attraction will be a huge help.
And it could help inject some much needed life into the city centre too.
An ambitious target of attracting 500,000 visitors a year has been set.
That’s more than the 420,000 that visit Stirling Castle every year, but fewer than Edinburgh Castle’s 1.3 million.
Highland Council interim depute chief executive Malcolm Macleod believes Inverness Castle will be a “national-level visitor experience”.
He said: “We want it to be just as popular and known as Edinburgh Castle and Stirling Castle.
“500,000 is our target but hopefully we can go beyond that. The way this has been designed, it’s for everybody.
“It’s a real mixture of Highland history and culture. But it will also be an experience that we are not used to in Inverness.”
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