A national piping centre in Glasgow will be offering an introduction to playing the pipes as Burns Night approaches.

Glasgow tourism businesses are being encouraged to tap into The National Piping Centre & The Pipers’ Tryst Hotel's  ‘meet the maker’ style visitor experiences to attract international visitors.

Helen Urquhart, from the National Piping Centre, said: "The Museum of Piping at the National Piping Centre is a tour through 300 years of bagpipe history from across Scotland, as well as showcasing instruments from across the world.

"If you visit as part of a tour group, our kilted guide piper will talk you through this interesting history, and then will give you a guided tour of how to play the bagpipes.

"Visitors to the Museum of Piping at The National Piping Centre love the hands-on nature of the experience, learning more about the history and then being able to try a set of bagpipes.

"Nothing is a more quintessential Scottish experience."

Hands-on experiences that tourists are seeking include making Haggis, gin, tartan, learning to Ceilidh dance, playing the bagpipes and meeting Highland Cows.

 Stemming from increased demand from USA, France and Germany, businesses are picking up on this trend.

Ms Urquhart said their market is significantly made up of visitors from the US.

She added: "With a huge Scottish diaspora across the East Coast of the USA and into Canada, we welcome many visitors from across the US each year.

"One legend is that there are more pipe bands in New York state than in the whole of Scotland.

"So we would love to welcome even more visitors from the USA, to get in touch with their Celtic roots."

Vicki Miller, director of marketing at VisitScotland, said Scotland's unique and immersive visitor experiences allows people to immerse themselves in local culture, attracting higher visitor value.

She said: "Tourism is an important economic driver, benefiting all parts of Scotland but the experience of visiting Scotland provides many other benefits to Scotland & our visitors.

"Visitors leave feeling enriched taking away new information, skills, memories & experiences that are unique to Scotland."

According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), the US was Scotland's top international market in 2022, followed by France and Germany.