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charity tackling homelessness and social isolation across Scotland. Partnering with these groups is a fantastic way to support the local community as well as adding value to the delegate experience.
What of the traditional big themes: Food & drink; golf; natural beauty. In the past you’ ve had specialist thematic years for VisitScotland to market. What is the current strategy for highlighting Scotland’ s USPs for meeting planners and delegates? Those themes remain very important, because they are part of Scotland’ s identity and continue to resonate strongly with international audiences. The difference now is that we are using them as part of a broader, more flexible story about what Scotland offers as a meetings destination. That means combining food and drink, golf and natural beauty with messages around innovation, sustainability, accessibility and the quality of the overall delegate experience.
What big events are coming to Scotland in 2026 / 27? There is a strong pipeline for 2026 and beyond. We’ re pleased to be welcoming key industry events and trade activity to the country, including The Meeting Space, a highly successful event held in Edinburgh in March 2026 and delivered by VSBE and its partners.
Scotland will host the Commonwealth Games this summer, and the Grand Depart for the Tour de France 2027 will take place from Edinburgh Castle.
What are the big challenges when marketing Scotland for the events industry and how are you doing with providing value? Like every destination, we’ re operating in a highly competitive and cost-sensitive market. The challenge is to make sure Scotland continues to stand out not just on price, but on the overall value it delivers – including ease of delivery,
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delegate engagement and the quality of the experience.
Scotland offers a strong mix of ambition and practicality, making it a smart choice for organisations focused on return on investment. Whether it’ s attracting talent, retaining staff, or rewarding performance, Scotland competes well globally. It provides excellent value for money and an environment that motivates people and helps retain the right talent.
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What is new in the sustainability mission? The focus now is increasingly on practical action, helping planners and suppliers make better decisions, reduce impact, and communicate progress credibly. It’ s about making sustainability easier to embed, rather than treating it as an add-on. An important priority for VisitScotland Business Events is ensuring business tourism is sustainable and delivers economic benefits throughout the year, not just during the summer. |
With Neil Brownlee completing his year as PCMA president, VS has been raising its profile in the industry’ s global associations. Has there been a dividend from that activity? Absolutely. Being visible in the right global forums matters, because it helps |
Left: The Scottish Event Campus.
Bottom left: PJ Live
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reinforce Scotland’ s credibility and keeps us connected to the issues shaping the industry internationally. It also gives us a stronger platform to talk about Scotland’ s strengths in a way that resonates with planners, associations and decision-makers in our target markets.
Given your focus on America, how is that market responding to Scotland? What misconceptions or barriers do you still encounter? A prime example of tailoring the offering is in North America’ s passion for golf and ancestry, whereas the South American market’ s preference is for vibrant nightlife, food and drink and shopping, as well as culture, built heritage and history.
These subtle differences can be seen across all markets, be it differing thoughts on the star ratings of hotels or the flexibility of programmes. One thing is for sure – Scotland delivers at the highest level to all markets and there is something for everyone. n
• Business events represent 20 % of all tourism expenditure in Scotland and business visitors spend almost twice that of leisure visitors.
• According to a recent Deloitte study, the tourism economy supports 270,000 jobs in Scotland in 20,000 businesses. The same study calculates that the tourism economy contributes £ 11bn annually and supports around 10 % of employment in Scotland. Almost 16m tourists to the UK take overnight trips to Scotland.
• For information about business events in Scotland go to: https:// businessevents. visitscotland. com
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