Inverness Castle facing a loss of almost £1.4m in first year

The new Inverness Castle Experience is set to make a financial loss of almost £1.4m this year because of lower than expected ticket sales.

The tourist attraction, which features an interactive journey through Highland history and culture, is getting about half the number of projected visitors.

The castle, a former sheriff court, officially opened to visitors in February following a transformation project costing about £47m.

A meeting of Highland Council's corporate resources committee heard that a new five-year strategy was being developed by the operators, Highlife Highland, to support its long-term success.

There have been just over 80,000 paying visitors so far this year.

Highlife Highland, which operates Highland Council-owned leisure and sports venues, said that was about 55% of the projected figure.

Lower than expected footfall has led to fewer sales in the castle's shop and food and drink outlets.

In a presentation Highlife Highland's chief executive Steve Walsh said staffing levels had already been reduced and they had moved to a "seasonal model".

He told councillors opening hours had been reduced and a fine dining experience they were offering had been scaled back.

Walsh said new strategy was being developed which would seek to break into the "untapped market" of people arriving in Inverness on tour buses.

The strategy predicts a 15% growth in ticket sales next year although it was acknowledged the attraction may not break even financially until 2029-30.

Highland Council is also due £1.156m in rent and officials have warned that the council may end up having to provide a total of £2.5m in additional support this year.

Council leader Raymond Bremner described the Inverness Castle Experience as a "massively new exciting project" but said he was concerned about the situation.

He said: "There is no getting away from it, the figures are disappointing.

"The numbers are not just below projection they were well below projection."

Cromarty Firth councillor John Edmonson said the figures were "pretty bad" and called for ticket prices to be examined.

"Invernessians and people in the Highlands, they always say we're charging too much," he said.

"Get more people in the door and then they spend more money in the various shops and whatever facilities are there."

Walsh said Highlife Highland had aimed for an affordable price, but added that it needed to consider market forces.

He said: "Certainly the pricing review is something that we will monitor carefully, use all the data we've got at our disposal and try to make good decisions going forward."

In a joint statement The Highland Council and Highlife Highland said visitor numbers and the associated income from retail and catering sales had been lower than originally projected.

They said: "This reflects a combination of factors, including a later-than-planned winter opening, which reduced the lead-in time normally required to develop key tourism markets and group bookings.

"Launching a new and distinctive visitor attraction is a long-term investment.

"Building awareness and establishing market presence takes time, particularly when introducing a unique experience to the tourism market."

They added that there was "strong interest" and a "growing profile" for the castle.