The head of Visit Scotland has called Glasgow's new Riverside Museum a "huge show of confidence" while adorning it with a five-star rating.

The transport museum, which opened last year, won the top tourism standard after a visit from a secret inspector.

Mike Cantlay said it was a tribute to Glasgow that ambitious attractions like the Riverside Museum were still being built.

-- Advertisement --

He said: "Last week I was with people who are in charge of hundreds of million dollar budgets for global companies. We took them to various places, including Riverside, and they were amazed that despite the recession, we are still building things. Riverside is a prime example of that.

"You go round the world and people are not building anything like Riverside because of the recession. It is a huge show of confidence for Glasgow and Scotland that we are still building leisure facilities and that they are clearly successful, despite all the economic challenges."

The attraction on Pointhouse Place was built at a cost of £74m.

It was designed by Baghdad-born architect Zaha Hadid, a double winner of the Stirling Prize.

(NE)