from 11.1 million last year to 13.1 million in 2020. The airport has also unveiled expansion plans over the next quarter of a century and launched a public consultation on its“ masterplan” for development from now until 2040.
Scotland is known for its beautiful landscapes, castles, history and unique traditions. But Scotland also attracts MICE events thanks to its growing global reputation as a contemporary business destination. We are home to academic excellence throughout the country and can boast a proud tradition of innovation, invention and pioneering spirit. This means that associations, academic institutions and companies with cutting edge technology will all feel at home staging events in Scotland. Our principal cities are home to world-class live event venues such as Glasgow’ s 12,000 seat Scottish Exhibition + Conference Centre( SECC), which is one of the world’ s five busiest conference centres and also features the SSE Hydro, a state-ofthe-art versatile event space that has been voted number two in the world by Pollstar. The Edinburgh International Conference Centre( EICC) recently underwent an impressive £ 30m expansion – bolstering its excellent existing facilities including an innovative moving floor system, and in 2019 Aberdeen will be home to the new £ 333m Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre( AECC), featuring a cuttingedge 12,500 person capacity event arena.
2017 also brings Scotland’ s Year of History, Heritage and Archaeology. Scotland’ s history and heritage is what defines the country for many visitors. From World Heritage Sites to ancient monuments, cultural traditions to Scotland’ s myths, stories and legends, the year will shine a spotlight on some of the country’ s greatest assets. Business Events visitors are encouraged to delve in to Scotland’ s past and host their next live event in one of Scotland’ s unique venues. Recent million pound developments to some of Scotland’ s most historic properties include 15th century Borthwick Castle just outside of Edinburgh, Crossbasket Castle, a luxury hotel, restaurant and event venue in South Lanarkshire, and Meldrum House in Aberdeenshire – dating back 800 years and offering every modern comfort.
All-in-all, Scotland continues to go from strength-to-strength as a business events destination, combining the spirit of Scotland with hard and fast reasons to be here. We look forward to welcoming even more business events over the next year.
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