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Big Interview
American clients, for programmes in
2021 and beyond. While our team in
North America has reported a
decline in enquiries over the past
month, which was to be expected, it
is very encouraging to see that
requests for proposal are still
incoming for Scotland.
Organisations from the business
events industry in Scotland are
adapting to support the community
and key workers during the
Covid-19 crisis, how has this made
you feel, and can you share with us
some examples?
I am incredibly proud of how the
business events community, and in
fact everyone across Scotland, has
responded. It really does show that
the true spirit of Scotland has not
been diminished.
For example, more than 200
hotels have opened their doors to
accommodate frontline medical
staff, key workers and the homeless,
with more than 20,000 beds being
provided free of charge across
Scotland.
We have also seen a number of
the country’s distilleries, including
Brewdog and Kingsbarn Distillery,
adapt their facilities and use their
expertise to create products such as
hand sanitiser and high-strength
Above: The
Scottish Events
Campus (SEC),
Glasgow, was due
to host COP26
later in 2020
alcohol to industry suppliers.
We’ve seen the Scottish Events
Campus (SEC) in Glasgow transform
into a temporary hospital, the NHS
Louisa Jordan, in just over two weeks
to provide an additional 1,000
hospital beds for Covid-19 patients.
Closer to home, our own amazing
team have discovered newfound
talents. In their spare time Rory
Archibald and Fiona MacKinnon
from our business events team,
along with the help of Fiona’s
daughter Morven, have been busy
creating an audio story for children
titled ‘Fergus and the Finfolk’, which
is based on Scottish folklore. They
wanted to do something different
and provide some entertainment to
the children of our partners, and
also some of the adults. It really is
very good.
COP26 was a major climate event
for later this year in Glasgow and
has since been postponed. Will it
run again, and in Scotland?
We were of course really pleased
when Glasgow was chosen to host
such an important global climate
event. Everyone, especially the
teams at the SEC and Glasgow
Convention Bureau, worked really
hard on the planning, so naturally it
was a disappointment when it had to
be postponed. While there is not yet
a confirmed date in 2021, we look
forward to welcoming everyone from
the COP26 family to Scotland very
soon.
What has been the Scottish
government’s attitude to the
business events industry; have
they listened, been supportive, and
do they openly acknowledge its
value to the economy?
Like most governments, the Scottish
government has been focusing on
the healthcare implications of the
pandemic, and the associated
impact of the lockdown on the
economy. As part of the visitor
economy, which is a significant
percentage of the Scottish economy,
the government has launched a
number of tourism-specific funding
programmes.
We are now submitting business
events specific “asks” as some
easing of the lockdown becomes
apparent. Ultimately, the priority is to
get the industry back on its feet as
quickly as possible, but we will also
take the opportunity to reposition
business events as policy platforms
for Scotland’s recovery. This will
reinforce the value of business
events beyond just the economic
impact.
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