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Neil Brownlee , head of business events at VisitScotland , says 2019 saw many event venues report their best ever years
omewhat ironically , 2019 was fantastic for Scotland ’ s business events industry . We know various venues reported their best ever performance , and while we can ’ t put an exact figure on it ( who can , and that ’ s on the list of problems to fix post-Covid ) we can confidently claim to have contributed hundreds of millions of pounds to the Scottish economy , if not a couple of billion .
Over the past few years Scotland has attracted some high-profile global events including TEDSummit 2019 and COP26 UN Climate Change Conference , which as a result of coronavirus will now take place in 2021 . Last year , Scotland hosted 143 association events that met the ICCA criteria and accounted for 31 % of the total UK association events market . Glasgow and Edinburgh rank higher in the ICCA rankings than Melbourne , Vancouver and New York , which is a fantastic achievement for the country .
Since March , like many of our counterparts , we have been unable to host business events and have had to adapt quickly and find new ways to support our partners and the sector .
As the industry awaits a restart and navigates its way towards recovery , we continue to liaise with our colleagues across VisitScotland and within both the Scottish and UK Governments . Some progress has been made with the Events Industry Advisory Group , which has been actively gathering and reporting back evidence and data to government
: Neil Brownlee , head of business events , VisitScotland
“ We are pleased that buyers are still keen to bring their events to Scotland , which is testament to our reputation and the strength of our offering .”
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and public VisitScotland health officials to help them understand the capabilities , concerns and needs of the industry . Our sector ’ s ability to operate safely , professionally and in Covid-compliant ways are being pushed hard , albeit overtaken by the prevailing restrictions .
While we are unable to meet face-to-face , we continue to have a presence and invest in promoting Scotland to the world by attending a range of online tradeshows with some of our key partners . Events like this , while different to their usual format , are vital for business and important for our own personal development and learning . Some online versions of shows are better than others , it must be said , but we realise the industry is finding its feet in these first iterations . We just need to support these endeavours and help our industry partners .
Scotland is still here . It is comforting and reassuring to wander round our great cities and get into our countryside to see it is all still there . Just much quieter , and as summer has given way to autumn , 2020 is on its final laps . Thank goodness .
This year we have seen the true flexibility of event and exhibitions venues , transforming into field hospitals and testing centres in a matter of days to support the nation . Most notably , the Scottish Event Campus ( SEC ) transformed into NHS Louisa Jordan in just two weeks and added a further 1,000 hospital beds to support NHS Scotland .
On a positive note , we are continuing to receive enquiries from global organisations looking to host incentives and association events in Scotland from 2021 , 2022 and beyond . We are pleased that buyers are still keen to bring their events to Scotland , which is testament to our reputation and the strength of our offering . We are extremely positive that the events industry will rebuild and recover from this . We will be doing everything we can to be part of that reboot , whenever it comes . www . conference-news . co . uk