Inverness welcomes record number of cruise buses
A RECORD number of tourist coaches brought holiday joy to Inverness this week.
The city welcomed 47 buses full of holidaymakers on Wednesday – the highest number on a single day this year.
Transporting 2100 visitors between them it meant a massive boost to the local economy.
Thirty-one of the coaches carried passengers from cruise ships the Viking Sun and Viking Jupiter docked at Invergordon.
Inverness Business Improvement District community safety officer John McDonald said: “Our dedicated coach ambassadors did a fantastic job of organising the coaches and ensuring all passengers were warmly welcomed to Inverness. We knew in advance it was going to be hectic so had three ambassadors on duty.
“They did very well in pretty challenging conditions to ensure that the coaches got to the Ardross Street drop-off and pick-up points and make sure all passengers made their connections back to their ships.
“While we have had higher coach numbers in past years, it is very busy this year, and already visitor numbers are 10 per cent up on this time last year.”
The Port of Cromarty Firth is set to welcome more than 180,000 cruise ship passengers this year, many of whom will take the chance for a day trip to Inverness and the surrounding area.
