Castle talks the talk for flock of new tourists

EDINBURGH Castle is to offer audio tours in Russian and Chinese after seeing increasing numbers of tourists from the East.

Bosses at the attraction said they had decided to commission the new guides in Russian and Mandarin after being inundated with requests by visitors.

The move means the Castle is one of only a handful of attractions to offer guides in either language - although tourism chiefs are keen to see them established elsewhere in the city.

Graeme Bowie, travel trade manager at Historic Scotland, said: "Audio guides are already available at Edinburgh Castle in six languages, but after receiving recent visitor trend analysis, we realised there was a real interest and market for guides in more languages.

"We have experienced a significant increase in visitors from both Russia and China, which is fabulous news."