BUSINESS TYCOON Donald Trump and Carnoustie-born actor Alan Cumming have been among the visitors to Perthshire’s stand at the Tartan Week celebrations in New York.

Reports filtering back indicate that the council’s presence is creating a great deal of interest.

Before heading for New York yesterday, enterprise and infrastructure convener Councillor Alan Livingstone had been keeping track of events there.

“The display and information stand is proving to be an eye-catching attention grabber with visitors keen to find out more about the area and its many attractions,” he said.

“Over 500 promotional magazines a day have been handed out and the distribution of many more postcards, CD-ROMs and bookmarks has helped to spread the Perthshire brand throughout New York and beyond.

“There has been a significant trade interest in meeting with our representatives from the business community, which is one of the aims we hoped to achieve.

“There has also been a great deal of interest in Perthshire as an area and our representatives are finding that many of the people they speak to have visited in the past and have been highly impressed, although they have not always been aware that they had been in our particularly wonderful piece of Scotland.

“Many of the American visitors to the stand also report that Blairgowrie has been high on their radar when they have visited and it is also a location that many more would like to visit, especially those with ancestral connections to the area.

“Press and media interest has also been high and I have no doubt that we are managing to penetrate the American market and put Perthshire on the map of tourism destinations for many thousands of people.

“I have no doubt that our participation…will reap rewards for many years to come.”