Press release -
Perthshire rises to the challenge
Some of Perthshire’s top venues and suppliers have put a group of UK buyers through their paces, in a series of challenges to encourage more business visitors to the area.
The Perthshire Agency Challenge, the first of its kind created by Meetings Perthshire (the operating name of the Perthshire Business Tourism Group) with support from VisitScotland Business Events and Perth & Kinross Council, gave seven agents from across England a taste of the MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Events) sector in the area.
In a unique move which differs from the usual familiarisation (fam) trip, the buyers not only learned first-hand from each venue of the possibilities for corporate conferences, events and incentives but they were also pitted against each other in a series of mental and physical challenges which culminated with a mini Highland Games.
The buying agents came from major business events firms ArrangeMY, Capita Travel & Events, Sterling Travel, GoodCause Travel, Inntel Limited, NYS Corporate and English Country Hotels.
The Perthshire businesses which took part in the Perthshire Agency Challenge from 4-6 September were: Murrayshall House Hotel; Ballathie House Hotel; Dunkeld House Hotel; Blair Castle; Fonab Castle; Scone Palace; Perth Racecourse; Gleneagles Hotel; BlueSky Experiences; Green Hotel.
The buying agents began their stay in Scotland at the recently rebranded Hilton Edinburgh Carlton before heading up to Perthshire. In addition, one of the races at the Scotland Food & Drink Festival Day held at Perth Racecourse was named after the Perthshire Business Tourism Group.
Located just 90 minutes from 90% of the Scottish population, Perthshire’s beautiful countryside setting helps make it one of the top venues for conferences, meetings and incentive events – from corporate events to associations and political parties.
Among the major conferences hosted last year were Mountains of our Future Earth which was attended by 450 delegates from 60 countries over five days and the Scottish Labour Party Conference which was attended by 900 delegates over three days.
Theresa Ring, Market Manager – The Midlands & North England at VisitScotland Business Events, said:
“Business Events represents a £1.9 billion industry for Scotland in which Perthshire plays an important part. Perthshire is home to some of Scotland’s top and unique venues and is an ideal location for those wanting to experience both our rural and urban landscape.
“Fam trips are an essential tool in encouraging organisations to bring their conferences, events and meetings to Scotland and we hope this unique twist will leave a lasting impression on our guests.”
Catriona Anderson, Marketing Consultant and Coordinator of Meetings Perthshire, said:
“Perthshire has a great range and wealth of expertise in hosting world class events and international conferences. The city of Perth, which is applying for the City of Culture award in 2021, is striving to give that edge for its residents, visitors and conference delegates alike. With such an easy space to explore and variety of entertainment, it offers delegates a good option to really bring a conference together.
“With its wonderful scenery, outdoor activities, and exclusive use venues for that truly incentive event, Perthshire really is the centre of Scotland for conference business, naturally.”
Scott Robertson, Business Development Manager Blair Castle, and chair of Meetings Perthshire, said:
“Perthshire is a real find for the MICE industry, with its ability to cater for corporate, association and the incentive markets. Centrally located in Scotland and only a short drive from the main airports, Perthshire combines that city and rural mix that can really boost an event.
“With the Meetings Perthshire website bringing together the key players for the area, it makes conference agents and buyers life easier to find the perfect venue in Perthshire.”
Councillor John Kellas, Convener of Enterprise & Infrastructure for Perth & Kinross Council, said:
“This new approach to selling the area to buyers has offered Perthshire tourism businesses a unique opportunity to portray the area as it really is, and gives buyers a chance to find out more about the broad range of what Perth and Kinross has to offer.
“An increased knowledge and understanding of the local offering means that they will be in a much better position in future to make connections between attractions, and increase opportunities to encourage visitors to Perth and Kinross to stay longer, visit more places and demonstrate the attractiveness of the area as a visitor attraction for the benefit of all.”
- ENDS -
Topics
- Tourism
Categories
- business events
- perthshire
- corporate communications
Regions
- Scotland
Notes to Editors
About Meetings Perthshire
- Meetings Perthshire is the operating name of the Perthshire Business Tourism Group, a consortium of leading venues and services providers in Perthshire who collaborate to market the area and venues to the corporate and associations meetings and incentive travel sectors. The group is funded by Perth & Kinross Council. For more go to www.meetingsperthshire.co.uk
About Business Events
- According to research commissioned by the Meeting Professionals International Foundation in 2013, Business Events are worth £1.9 billion to the Scottish economy
- The Business Events Industry focuses on Scotland as a destination for conferences, conventions, and incentive programmes.
- Currently, business events represent 20% of all tourism expenditure in Scotland. Business visitors spend almost twice that of leisure visitors, making it a highly lucrative sector, and it is also less seasonal than leisure tourism.
- In addition, attracting a major conference reinforces Scotland’s credentials in key industries and can make us a more attractive destination for inward investors, meaning that the benefits of business events extend well beyond delegate spend.For information about business events in Scotland go to www.conventionscotland.com
- 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
