Press release -
New(s) from the Top
The world’s first ‘healthy’ conference venue, the potential of Scotland’s £1.3 billion accessible tourism market and Scotland’s own business events gems will be among the talking points at the country’s largest gathering of top business tourism professionals today (Tuesday, 6 December).
The Business Tourism Scotland Conference 2016, supported by VisitScotland Business Events, will take place at the Technology and Innovation Centre, University of Strathclyde, hosted by broadcast journalist Louise White.
Innovation is the focus of this year’s event, with around 300 delegates due to attend 22 learning and networking sessions throughout the day – more than double the number of sessions at last year’s conference – led by industry professionals from across the globe.
Cabinet Secretary for Culture, Tourism and External Affairs, Fiona Hyslop MSP, and Deputy Leader of Glasgow City Council, Councillor Archie Graham will both speak at the conference.
Business events are hugely significant to the national economy and represent 20% of all tourism expenditure in Scotland. The National Conference Bid Fund, distributed by VisitScotland Business Events, has helped secure 168 conferences for Scotland, with 167,119 delegates expected between 2012 to 2023 with an estimated delegate spend of £283.5 million.
There are currently 33 bids pending which, if successful, have the potential to bring in a further 46,752 delegates spending an estimated £79.6 million.
Key note speakers at Business Tourism Scotland Conference 2016 are:
- David Chalmers, Marketing Director of Europe Cvent, which integrates technology, such as intuitive apps, into delivering a live event experience.
- Jason Megson, Managing Director of George P Johnson, whose #WinnerTakesEarth social media advertising campaign for the Samsung Galaxy 11 generated 11 million views on Youtube and millions of uses of the hashtag.
- David Merrell, CEO & Creative Director of AOO Events, one of the USA’s most respected and sought-after design and production firms.
The conference will give delegates a glimpse at the future of the business events industry and provide networking opportunities for senior officials from the Scottish meetings, incentives, conferences and events (MICE) industry and suppliers.
Chris McCoy, Equality and Diversity Manager at VisitScotland, will lead a session with Marketing Edinburgh on the great potential of accessible tourism – last year the accessible tourism market was worth £1.3 billion to the Scottish economy – as Glasgow gets set to host three major international medical conferences on Haemophilia, Down’s Syndrome and Motor Neurone Disease in 2018.
Other sessions include:
- Doing Something Differently – The Scottish Exhibition Conference Centre (SECC) showcases its innovative approach that resulted in it being the first officially accredited Healthy Conference Venue in the world.
- #ScotSpirit – VisitScotland will discuss its new global marketing approach, the Spirit of Scotland, launched earlier this year.
- Dare to Share – Scotland's own business events gems are revealed by Adam Cameron from All Event Hire and Rob Steadman from Gosford House.
The Business Tourism Scotland Conference 2016 is supported by VisitScotland Business Events alongside Dundee & Angus Convention Bureau, Marketing Edinburgh, Glasgow City Marketing Bureau and VisitAberdeenshire.
Fiona Hyslop MSP, Cabinet Secretary for Culture, Tourism and External Affairs, said: “Business events reinforce Scotland’s credentials on the world stage and showcase what Scotland has to offer.
“Since 2012, VisitScotland’s Conference Bid Fund has helped secure 165 conferences between 2013 and 2023, with over half a million delegates expected and an estimated gross value added of £85 million.
“The Scottish Government continues to build on our international profile and seeks to attract business, investments and tourism to further Scotland’s wider interests on the global stage.”
Neil Brownlee, Head of Business Events at VisitScotland, said: “The Business Tourism Scotland Conference is a highlight of the business events calendar and a must-attend event for high-level industry professionals.
“Innovation is at the forefront of this year’s conference, in keeping with the Year of Innovation, Architecture and Design, as the Scottish MICE sector continues to embrace new ways of working in order to compete in a competitive global market.”
Aileen Crawford, Head of Conventions at Glasgow City Marketing Bureau, said: “Business tourism is a fundamental pillar of Glasgow’s tourism economy and it is a priority within the city’s new Tourism and Visitor Plan to 2023.
“Continued innovation and collaboration with partners and suppliers across our MICE industry – together with product development, destination marketing and improving the quality of our delegate experience – is key to growing Glasgow’s, and Scotland’s, competitive advantage as a vibrant, world-class meetings destination.
“As the largest gathering of business tourism professionals in the country, I’m delighted that the Business Tourism Scotland Conference is making its home in Glasgow this year.”
Danny Cusick, Tourism director at Scottish Enterprise, said: “The Business Events sector in Scotland is leading the way in terms of innovation and maximising Scotland’s academic & industry expertise to attract new conference business to Scotland.
“Scottish Enterprise works closely with the sector in destinations right across Scotland to develop new products and industry relationships allowing them to tap into UK and international opportunities within the growing Business Events sector.
“It’s important that Scotland continues to provide a world class offering to ensure that we continue to grow our share of the lucrative Business Events market.”
For more on The Business Tourism Scotland Conference 2016 go to http://businesstourismscotland.co.uk/programme/
- ENDS -
Topics
- Tourism
Categories
- corporate communications
- business events
Regions
- Scotland
otes to Editors
- Follow us on twitter: @visitscotnews
- VisitScotland is Scotland’s national tourism organisation. Its core purpose is to maximise the economic benefit of tourism to Scotland.
- The organisation’s core objective is to contribute to the Tourism 2020 Strategy ambition of growing tourism revenues by £1 billion by 2020.
- This will be supported by seven overarching strategies:
- Marketing: we will market Scotland and its outstanding assets to visitors from all parts of the world, including the promotion of Scotland to people living in Scotland to visit different parts of the country
- Events: we will support the national events strategy and its delivery, and sustain, develop and promote Scotland’s international profile as one of the world’s foremost events destinations
- Internationalisation and International Engagement: we will utilise all our platforms to enable Scottish-based tourism businesses to better understand international opportunities and market to a global audience and we will work within One Scotland Partnerships to optimise the potential of Scotland’s Diaspora and our strategic partners at regional, European and global levels
- Customer Experience: we will provide information and inspiration to visitors both locally and globally via their preferred medium of choice
- Quality and Sustainability: we will provide support and advice to businesses, with the goal of improving the quality and sustainability of the tourism sector in Scotland. We will provide quality assurance to visitors through our Quality Schemes
- Inclusive Tourism: we will strive to make tourism in Scotland inclusive and available to all
- Working in Partnership: we will listen to and work with the industry, partners and communities to shape our offering and support
- VisitScotland works together with tourism businesses to make tourism a success for everyone and ensure the industry continues to grow.
- The organisation employs 700 people and has offices and VisitScotland Information Centres across Scotland.
- Spending by tourists in Scotland generates around £12 billion of economic activity in the wider Scottish supply chain and contributes around £6 billion to Scottish GDP (in basic prices). This represents about 5% of total Scottish GDP.
- The Scottish Government is the Managing Authority for the European Structural Funds 2014-20 Programme. For further information visit www.gov.scot or follow @scotgovESIF
- For VisitScotland’s press releases go to http://www.visitscotland.org/media_centre.aspx, tourism statistics and frequently asked questions go to http://www.visitscotland.org/
- Where possible, a Gaelic speaker will be made available for broadcast interviews on request (Far an tèid iarraidh, agus far am bheil sin nar comas, bruidhinnidh neach le Gàidhlig aig agallamh)
- For holiday information on Scotland go to www.visitscotland.com
- For information about business events in Scotland go to www.conventionscotland.com
2016 Year of Innovation, Architecture and Design - 2016 will shine a spotlight on Scotland’s achievements in innovation, architecture and design through a wide-ranging, variety of new and existing activity.
- The Year of Innovation, Architecture and Design started on 1 January 2016 and will end on 31 December 2016.It will build on the momentum generated by the 2015 Year of Food and Drink as well as previous years including Homecoming Scotland 2014, the Year of Creative and the Year of Natural.
- Through a series of exciting events and activity, the year will showcase Scotland’s position as an “innovation nation”, its outstanding built heritage, and its thriving, internationally acclaimed creative industries sector.
- The Year of Innovation, Architecture and Design is a Scottish Government initiative being led by VisitScotland, and supported by a variety of partners including Creative Scotland, Architecture + Design Scotland, Scottish Tourism Alliance, Scottish Enterprise, The National Trust for Scotland, Historic Environment Scotland, Highlands and Islands Enterprise and The Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland (RIAS).
- The Year of Innovation, Architecture and Design is supported by £570,000 of Scottish Government funding.
- The Year of Innovation, Architecture and Design events fund is managed by EventScotland, part of VisitScotland’s Events Directorate.
- Join the conversation at #IAD2016
