NorthLink Ferries are on the crest of a wave after scooping a major award at Expo 2009 – Scotland’s premier trade tourism exhibition.

Some 180 companies on nearly 250 trade stands attended the VisitScotland show which was staged over two days last week (April 22/23) at the SECC in Glasgow.

The NorthLink stand was voted ‘best for doing effective business’ – an accolade which was particularly welcome given the ferry company’s ongoing drive to raise even further the holiday profile of Orkney and Shetland.

NorthLink commercial director Cynthia Spencer said: “The level of interest in Orkney and Shetland as an affordable and accessible holiday destination is greater than we’ve ever experienced before. It was very evident from our experience at Expo that many more Britons are looking to holiday at home with an enormous interest in the Northern Isles.

“We were delighted to win the ‘best business’ award, and especially against so much strong opposition. As a company we are very keen to do our bit for the tourism industry in the Northern Isles and it’s always nice to have our efforts recognized in such a way.”

The VisitScotland Expo was the second high-profile tourism event to have been attended by NorthLink over the past month and both outings have highlighted unprecedented levels of interest in Orkney and Shetland as holiday destinations.

Last month the ferry company was flying the Northern Isles tourism flag at the Best of Britain and Ireland event held at the Excel Centre in London’s docklands. That show attracted 2500 trade buyers from across Europe and further afield. During the two days when the show was open to the public there were in excess of 10,000 visitors and some 3000 of these visited the NorthLink stand.

In addition to British holiday-at-homers, the Orkney and Shetland offering was also well received by group travel organizers with serious inquiries being received from operators in Canada, Italy, Russia and Holland. Several advance group bookings for the 2010 season were taken at the London event.

NorthLink trade and groups reservations manager Steve Nottage said: “There’s no doubt at all that the ‘credit crunch’ is impacting on where people are going to spend their holidays or, indeed, whether they are going to take a holiday at all. We continue to receive inquiries from mainland European contacts but the main message which we took away from both the Best of Britain and Ireland event and the Expo in Glasgow was that the credit crunch was impacting on the holiday plans of UK citizens and we hope to benefit from that.”