Historic Scotland has announced that its attractions recorded their best ever visitor figures for the period between 1 April 2010 and 30 September 2010.

The government agency's figures show that its ticketed properties attracted 2.46 million visits, exceeding the previous record set in 2007.

Each of Historic Scotland's top three sites, Edinburgh Castle, Stirling Castle and Urquhart Castle, experienced increased growth during the period.

Edinburgh Castle, Scotland's number one paid for tourist attraction, saw a particularly strong season, with September alone seeing a record breaking month for visitors, up 12 per cent on the previous year.

Throughout the period, the agency benefited from an increase in travel trade visitors, membership and walk up visits.

There has also been an upward trend in tourists from the Far East, as well as sustained growth from continental and eastern Europe, which has been supported by an increase in the number of direct flights into Scotland.

Stephen Duncan, spokesperson for Historic Scotland, said: "Our travel trade products, such as Explorer Pass tickets, and web ticket sales have grown by more than 30 per cent over the first half of the year compared to the same period last year."