Blog Post Extracts from Promote Shetland Shetland businesses win a brace of tourism awards Home Blog Shetland businesses win a brace of tourism awards By Promote Shetland November 7th 2022 Shetland enjoyed a highly successful night at the Highlands and Islands Tourism Awards as two isles businesses came out on top in their respective categories. Wild Skies Shetland, based in Unst, won an award in the ‘working together for tourism’ category at the HITA ceremony in Inverness. Shetland Seabird Tours – The Noss Boat, meanwhile, triumphed in the ‘best visitor attraction experience’ category. A total of four islands businesses were nominated for HITA awards: popular Lerwick restaurant No.88 Kitchen and Bar was highly commended in the ‘best eatery experience’ category, won by Coll Hotel, while Chris Dyer of Garths Croft in Bressay was nominated in the ‘food tourism award’ category, won by distillery Beinn an Tuirc. "It’s a great result for Shetland, wonderful to see the range of businesses highlighting the diversity and quality of Shetland’s tourism offering." Steve Mathieson of Visit Scotland. Phil Harris and Rebecca Nason of Shetland Seabird Tours - The Noss Boat claimed the prize for best visitor attraction. VisitScotland’s islands manager for Shetland, Steve Mathieson, said: “It’s a great result for Shetland, wonderful to see the range of businesses highlighting the diversity and quality of Shetland’s tourism offering. “Just making the shortlist for the final is a great feat in itself, considering the numbers competing in each category, and to have two winners out of our four finalists is something special. “Wild Skies and Shetland Seabird Tours now go on to the national final in February where we wish them every success.” Rebecca Nason and Phil Harris of Shetland Seabird Tours, which runs boat trips around the Noss National Nature Reserve and Bressay during the summer
Shetland enjoyed a highly successful night at the Highlands and Islands Tourism Awards as two isles businesses came out on top in their respective categories.
Wild Skies Shetland, based in Unst, won an award in the ‘working together for tourism’ category at the HITA ceremony in Inverness. Shetland Seabird Tours – The Noss Boat, meanwhile, triumphed in the ‘best visitor attraction experience’ category.
A total of four islands businesses were nominated for HITA awards: popular Lerwick restaurant No.88 Kitchen and Bar was highly commended in the ‘best eatery experience’ category, won by Coll Hotel, while Chris Dyer of Garths Croft in Bressay was nominated in the ‘food tourism award’ category, won by distillery Beinn an Tuirc.
“It’s a great result for Shetland, wonderful to see the range of businesses highlighting the diversity and quality of Shetland’s tourism offering.”
Phil Harris and Rebecca Nason of Shetland Seabird Tours – The Noss Boat claimed the prize for best visitor attraction.
VisitScotland’s islands manager for Shetland, Steve Mathieson, said: “It’s a great result for Shetland, wonderful to see the range of businesses highlighting the diversity and quality of Shetland’s tourism offering.
“Just making the shortlist for the final is a great feat in itself, considering the numbers competing in each category, and to have two winners out of our four finalists is something special.
“Wild Skies and Shetland Seabird Tours now go on to the national final in February where we wish them every success.”
“What an incredible accolade to have achieved and a massive thank you to #HITA2022 and everyone who helped make this happen for us, the support has been quite overwhelming.”
Meanwhile, journalist Simon Parker – who worked with Promote Shetland on a three-minute feature film on winter in the islands – scooped the Travel Writers’ travel broadcaster of the year award at a ceremony in London’s Hammersmith this weekend.
Passengers and staff were treated to the most spectacular marine mammal encounter imaginable on Saturday mornings Noss Boat tour when en-route to Noss, Shetland Seabird Tours bespoke wildlife boat found themselves surrounded on all sides by a fabulous group of over 70 White-beaked Dolphins, playing in the surf, riding the bow of the boat, and on occasion, leaping and breaching right out of the water in Noss Sound. "It was an unforgettable experience, having never seen such a large, playful, showy group of Dolphin, you just didn't know where to look or where to point the camera next!" SST Passenger After making sure delighted passengers, including the owners 7 year old daughter Ayda were getting super views & photo opportunities, Rebecca, who is a professional bird photographer & new OM SYSTEM Ambassador, took a series of shots of one mid-distance, boisterous animal which was surfacing regularly as if on a pogo stick! She says " I had taken numerous shots of dolphins as they surfaced in small groups all over the place, but find it a lot harder photographing cetaceans than birds and was struggling to connect with such brief surface encounters, which are all to often gone just after they are seen with no time to raise the camera, fully engage & press the shutter! I noticed a few animals leaping right out of the water a little further away and decided to concentrate on these as they were visible for a few seconds longer out of the water whilst fully breaching. I could hardly believe my eyes when I looked at the back of the camera & realised that I had caught this stunningly beautiful marine mammal in full breach & that it was sharp! These images were only possible due to the awesome mirrorless OM SYSTEM gear I
Passengers and staff were treated to the most spectacular marine mammal encounter imaginable on Saturday mornings Noss Boat tour when en-route to Noss, Shetland Seabird Tours bespoke wildlife boat found themselves surrounded on all sides by a fabulous group of over 70 White-beaked Dolphins, playing in the surf, riding the bow of the boat, and on occasion, leaping and breaching right out of the water in Noss Sound.
“It was an unforgettable experience, having never seen such a large, playful, showy group of Dolphin, you just didn’t know where to look or where to point the camera next!” SST Passenger
Free Willy moment aboard The Noss Boat on Saturday. @ Rebecca Nason/SST
After making sure delighted passengers, including the owners 7 year old daughter Ayda were getting super views & photo opportunities, Rebecca, who is a professional bird photographer & new OM SYSTEM Ambassador, took a series of shots of one mid-distance, boisterous animal which was surfacing regularly as if on a pogo stick!
Full belly view of a fabulous White-beaked Dolphin. In the 1970s White-beaked Dolphin was considered to be the most commonly encountered dolphin in Shetland waters. It was much scarcer in the mid 2000s, with just 13 reports between 2015 and 2018 and has now been replaced by Risso’s Dolphin as the most commonly encountered dolphin in Shetland waters. However 2022 has seen a surge in observations in Shetland waters again. @ Rebecca Nason/SST
She says ” I had taken numerous shots of dolphins as they surfaced in small groups all over the place, but find it a lot harder photographing cetaceans than birds and was struggling to connect with such brief surface encounters, which are all to often gone just after they are seen with no time to raise the camera, fully engage & press the shutter! I noticed a few animals leaping right out of the water a little further away and decided to concentrate on these as they were visible for a few seconds longer out of the water whilst fully breaching. I could hardly believe my eyes when I looked at the back of the camera & realised that I had caught this stunningly beautiful marine mammal in full breach & that it was sharp! These images were only possible due to the awesome mirrorless OM SYSTEM gear I converted to during lockdown, the autofocus is just super fast, so I didn’t miss the moment!
Full breach! Doing the twist with a quick side view profile showing the fabulous blunt white nose. @ Rebecca Nason/SST
Cetaceans are being observed from Shetland Seabird Tours – The Noss Boat with increasing regularity, and this year has been exceptional with numerous sightings including the biggest ever counts we’ve had of Minke Whale, Basking Shark & Rissos Dolphin, also magical Orca encounters & daily Harbour Porpoise observations. All this on top of the dramatic wildlife spectacles surrounding the seabird city of Noss, with it’s awe-inspiring cliffs heaving with birdlife, and over 25,000 northern gannets in full breeding mode, surely one of Europe’s finest wildlife encounters by boat.
Owners, Rebecca & Phil are still buzzing from their weekend boat experience, with tours soon winding down for another season. “It has been our best year to date in both numbers of passengers & wildlife encounters, & we are fired up to see what the 2023 season brings. We have several varied contracts now into late autumn including working with the National Oceanography Centre survey team’s Boaty McBoatface project off Bressay. And as finalists in this year’s coveted Highlands & Islands Tourism Awards, in the Best Visitor Attraction Experience” category, we are looking forward to joining the other Shetland category finalists for the awards ceremony in November in Inverness before we get back to finishing some new business developments in 2023″. Rebecca & Phil
All images taken using OM SYSTEM:
Reaching for the stars. White-beaked Dolphin at Noss Sound on Saturday. @ Rebecca Nason/SSTSurfacing White-beaked Dolphin: Other names include White-nosed Dolphin & Squidhound!Water streaming off the backs of two White-beaked Dolphins. @ Rebecca Nason/SSTWhite-beaked Dolphin, water cascading from its dorsal fin – Noss Sound. @ Rebecca Nason/SST
We are surprised & thrilled to have been shortlisted as finalists in this year's Highlands and Islands Tourism Awards in the "BEST VISITOR ATTRACTION EXPERIENCE" category. We could receive no greater accolade to be nominated in this highly regarded Scottish tourism award and are delighted for the other Shetland-based companies who have also made it into the 2022 shortlist in other categories, Garth's Croft Bressay in the Food Tourism Award, Wild Skies Shetland in the Working Together Toursim Award & No 88 Ltd in the Best Eatery Experience. https://highland-tourism-awards.co.uk THANK YOU to all our passengers, followers, friends, family & supporters who have helped make Shetland Seabird Tours - The Noss Boat, a strong, successful, leading wildlife & photography tourism attraction on the Isles. We are now enjoying the last month or so of our 7th year in business and our busiest year to date. We are already working on new plans for the 2023 season. Rebecca & Phil x HIGHLANDS & ISLANDS TOURISM AWARDS SHORTLIST IS REVEALED! THE shortlist for the Highlands & Islands Tourism Awards (HITA) 2022 has been announced. The return of the Awards this year, sponsored by Royal Bank of Scotland, saw a record number of entries. BEST VISITOR ATTRACTION EXPERIENCE Sponsored by Port of Cromarty Firth Authority Highland Wildlife Park Loch Ness by Jacobite Shetland Seabird Tours ‒ The Noss Boat The judging panel was delighted with the strong field of submissions, particularly after such a challenging two years for the sector. Chair of the judging panel, Calum Ross, Loch Melfort Hotel, near Oban, said: “Not only did we have a record number of entries for the Awards’ return this year but the standard of submissions was exceptional. We had an incredibly strong field this year which is all the more remarkable given the
We are surprised & thrilled to have been shortlisted as finalists in this year’s Highlands and Islands Tourism Awards in the “BEST VISITOR ATTRACTION EXPERIENCE” category. We could receive no greater accolade to be nominated in this highly regarded Scottish tourism award and are delighted for the other Shetland-based companies who have also made it into the 2022 shortlist in other categories, Garth’s Croft Bressay in the Food Tourism Award, Wild Skies Shetland in the Working Together Toursim Award & No 88 Ltd in the Best Eatery Experience.
THANK YOU to all our passengers, followers, friends, family & supporters who have helped make Shetland Seabird Tours – The Noss Boat, a strong, successful, leading wildlife & photography tourism attraction on the Isles. We are now enjoying the last month or so of our 7th year in business and our busiest year to date. We are already working on new plans for the 2023 season. Rebecca & Phil x
HIGHLANDS & ISLANDS TOURISM AWARDS SHORTLIST IS REVEALED!
THE shortlist for the Highlands & Islands Tourism Awards (HITA) 2022 has been announced.
The return of the Awards this year, sponsored by Royal Bank of Scotland, saw a record number of entries.
BEST VISITOR ATTRACTION EXPERIENCE
Sponsored by Port of Cromarty Firth Authority
Highland Wildlife Park
Loch Ness by Jacobite
Shetland Seabird Tours ‒ The Noss Boat
The judging panel was delighted with the strong field of submissions, particularly after such a challenging two years for the sector.
Chair of the judging panel, Calum Ross, Loch Melfort Hotel, near Oban, said: “Not only did we have a record number of entries for the Awards’ return this year but the standard of submissions was exceptional. We had an incredibly strong field this year which is all the more remarkable given the huge challenges and disruption to our industry over the past two years.
“It is fantastic to see so much resilience and work that went into each entry and so many businesses that took the time to apply. Of course, that made our job of shortlisting the entries all the more difficult!”
HITA chairman Laurence Young added: “After two long years, it’s exciting to be able to bring the Awards back. Everyone can now look forward to a wonderful Awards night where we can celebrate the achievements of our sector and recognise the dedication, professionalism and excellence shown right across the Highlands and Islands.”
