Scotland’s venues host the world
Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow are strong players on the conferences and events stage, reports Anthony Harrington
FOR some years now Scotland has been punching way over its weight when it comes to winning international conferences and the annual conventions of professional associations.
With all the world’s major cities competing vigorously to become the host city for these gatherings Scotland’s three major cities have come up trumps time and time again.
As Lesley Williams, head of business tourism for Convention Edinburgh, the business tourism arm of Marketing Edinburgh, notes, achieving consistent success in bringing these events to Scotland requires a focused and sustained marketing effort.
The conference teams in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen are continually talking to event planners in various countries about conferences that are only scheduled to take place several years hence.
In competing for conference business against other cities, the Glasgow City Marketing Bureau (GCMB) and Convention Edinburgh stress Scotland’s natural advantages, with its stunning landscapes, but they also seek to leverage the academic strength and global reputation of Scotland’s universities, and the stature of key industries such as life sciences and technology.
Williams said that the diversity of recent new bid wins is a convincing demonstration of Edinburgh’s appeal to a wide spectrum of conference organisers.
Big recent wins include the European Society for Clinical Cell Analysis in October 2016 and the International Conference on Ocean Energy in 2016.
To convince event planners that a city is suitable for their event, requires both great conference venues and an excellent array of high quality hotels and restaurants.
Williams points out that venues such as the Edinburgh International Conference Centre (EICC), Sheraton Grand Hotel & Spa, the Assembly Rooms and the exciting new expansion at the Royal College of Surgeons, mean that Edinburgh is better placed than ever before to attract top events.
Neil Brownlee, head of business Events at Visitscotland emphasises that business events, which include meetings, conferences, exhibitions and incentive trips, play a key role in Scotland’s visitor economy.
“Worth nearly £2 billion, these events provide businesses and accommodation providers with much needed income, particularly during the traditionally quieter months of the tourism season,” he says.
Brownlee adds: “Scotland enjoyed an incredible year in 2014, with the country hosting the likes of the Glasgow Commonwealth Games, the Ryder Cup at Gleneagles and the 1,000 plus events that formed part of Homecoming.
“Throughout the year Scotland was truly thrust into the global spotlight and we are using 2014 as a springboard to future success, starting with the Year of Food and Drink – a celebration of this country’s outstanding natural larder.”
Conferences and events add some £50 million a year to Aberdeen’s economy, according to figures released by the Aberdeen Exhibitions and Conferences Centre (AECC).
To help push that figure towards the £100m mark, in October 2013 Aberdeen Council and the AECC announced plans to build a £30m new version of the AECC at Bucksburn, scheduled to open in 2018.
The developer, Henry Boot Developments, was also given the contract to redevelop the current AECC site at the Bridge of Don.
The 150 acre Bucksburn site is large enough to accommodate the new AECC, hotels, leisure and office accommodation, as well as significant public open space and car parking.
A mixed-use development which includes residential and commercial uses, including affordable housing, is proposed for the Bridge of Don site.
Where Aberdeen gains £5m a year from business tourism, Edinburgh gains six times that amount at £300m a year, according to Convention Edinburgh,
For its part, GCMB, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary, has announced that over the decade it has been operating it has secured conference business for Glasgow worth £1.2bn. Over the year, from 1 April, 2014 to 31 March, 2015, working with the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre (SECC) and a range of city partners, GCMB has secured conventions business worth £140m for the city, up 3 per cent on the value of conferencing business secured in 2014.
In all, GCMB’S Convention Bureau confirmed 504 new international and UK conventions for the city, with the scheduled dates for the events stretching out to 2022.
Among the major conferences won by Glasgow in 2014/15 were the Congress of the International Academy of Pathology 2020; the European Society of Hypertension and the International Society of Hypertension’s (ESH/ISH) Joint Scientific Congress 2020, plus the World Congress of Soil Science 2022.
In winning these meetings, the city beat off worldwide competition from Beijing, Singapore, Italy, Switzerland and Cancun.
Councillor Gordon Matheson, leader of Glasgow City Council and the chair of the GCMB says: “We couldn’t hope to celebrate our 10th birthday with better news; we’ve secured £1.2bn of conference business with nearly 4m hotel bookings, during a decade when global competition has been increasingly fierce.”
Visitscotland’s match funding programme, which helps cities across Scotland attract conference business with poundfor-pound funding has played an important part in securing major events for Scottish cities.
According to the GCMB, together with its city partners the funding has, to date, played a direct role in enabling the city to attract nine major conferences, including the World Congress of Basic Clinical Pharmacology 2022 and the International Congress on Molecular Plant Microbe Interactions 2019.
Kathleen Warden, director of sales at the SECC notes the importance of having a direct conference marketing arm to place Glasgow’s facilities and attractions in front of event planners around the world.
She says: “Glasgow City Marketing Bureau has helped put Glasgow on the map. The work of the bureau has put us all in a different league within the global meetings industry.”
According to the latest International Congress and Convention Association Statistics, which provides the main global benchmark and ranking for cities as meeting destinations, all three of Scotland’s major cities have climbed up the rankings over the last year.
Edinburgh moved up from number 40 to 31; Glasgow jumped six places, from 74th to 68th, while Aberdeen, which did not get a mention in the top 350 cities in 2014, is now ranked at 222.
Both Edinburgh and Glasgow ranked ahead of Manchester and Liverpool, which placed 90th and 198th respectively. London was ranked 6th.
“The work of the bureau has put us all in a different league within the global meetings industry” Kathleen Warden, SECC