ONE of Scotland's most popular niche festivals is set to buck the recession by attracting a record number of visitors to the heart of whisky country in Moray.
The ten-day Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival is to be launched on Friday with at least 23,000 visitors expected.
Festival organisers said bookings in the area have already risen by 28 per cent with the "dramfest" due to inject £750,000 into the
local economy as tourists arrive on Speyside from home and abroad.
A quarter of a million nips are expected to be served during the festival, the signature event of Whisky Month in Scotland's Year of Homecoming programme.
A festival spokeswoman said: "Advance bookings for almost 400 events to be staged during the festival have proved particularly attractive to visitors from Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Sweden, Norway and the US.
"But the organisers report interest from as far afield as Australia, Canada, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, India, Israel, Republic of Korea, West Indies, Sri Lanka and Ukraine.
"A large number of distilleries countrywide boast visitor centres and, despite a drop in tourism numbers in Scotland in 2008, ScotlandWhisky reports a trend bucking picture, with a 0.21 per cent increase in visitors touring a distillery in 2008, compared to the previous year, and a spend increase of 12.2 per cent."
First Minister Alex Salmond, will officially open the festival, which will culminate with the "Spirit of Speyside," a musical celebration on 9 May on the banks of the Spey at Aberlour.
