Edinburgh Bids for Events Worth 66 Million pounds Sterling
The business tourism organisation responsible for promoting Scotland’s capital city as a top conference destination is in the process of bidding to bring conferences and events worth 66 million pounds Sterling to the local economy.
Edinburgh, United Kingdom, May 12, 2010 --(PR.com)-- Edinburgh Convention Bureau (ECB - http://www.conventionedinburgh.com/) is currently involved in helping persuade the organisers of 89 planned association meetings to choose Edinburgh as the host destination.
Sue Stuart, Chief Executive of the ECB, commented: “We have had a very good start to our new business year. The number of events in Edinburgh we are bidding for is slightly ahead of this time last year which is pleasing. We have a track record of converting eight out of ten enquiries into confirmed bookings and we aim to continue that success rate.”
She added: “However we can’t afford to be overconfident in what will again be a very tough year in a highly competitive international market. That is why we have increased our research resource to identify more professional association meetings suitable for Edinburgh in order to sustain the growth of business tourism within the local economy.”
The events being targeted by the ECB have a wide variety of subject matter ranging from renewable energy to infectious diseases, reflecting Edinburgh and Scotland’s reputation as a centre of excellence in the fields of energy, medicine, life sciences, computing and electronics.
A 2% increase in the value of business tourism won with the assistance of the ECB has been set for the current year (2010/2011) which would see the sector inject 75.7 million pounds Sterling into the Edinburgh economy.
As it works towards that target, the ECB has also announced that ten new events have been confirmed for the city. The bookings were taken between 1-18 April (2010) and will be worth an estimated £5.5 million to the economy and will attract up to 3740 delegates.
The largest of the newly confirmed events is a meeting of the European Society of Condensed Matter Materials organised by the Institute of Physics which will be hosted by the Edinburgh International Conference Centre.
The four day event which is scheduled to be held between the 3rd and 7th of September 2012 will attract up to 1200 delegates and is valued at 2.3 million pounds Sterling.
Editors Notes
ECB helped win 257 conferences in Edinburgh during 2009/10 worth 74.2 million pounds Sterling to the economy.
Edinburgh is the most popular UK city after London for hosting international association meetings and is the 28th most popular business tourism destination in the world.
In order to count towards ICCA ranking an event must rotate its location between a minimum of two countries and have at least 50 (international) delegates.
The annual total value of Edinburgh’s business tourism is estimated at almost 300 million pounds Sterling.
The Edinburgh Ambassadors Programme matches recognised leaders in the city’s many areas of academic and commercial excellence with the professional marketing support of ECB staff who together work as a team to help them bring their international association’s conference to Edinburgh. Since 1996 the programme has helped bring more than 210 major events, worth almost 100 million pounds Sterling, to the city.
Edinburgh is a founder member of the international www.bestcities.net strategic alliance, which aims to guarantee the meetings industry the world’s best service experience in each of the member cities (Cape Town, Copenhagen, Dubai, Edinburgh, Melbourne, San Juan, Singapore, Vancouver).
To learn more about ECB visit http://www.conventionedinburgh.com/
Issued on behalf of ECB by fs communications.
For further information contact:
Frank Sullivan
Telephone: +44 (0)7718660122
Email: frank.sullivan@btconnect.com
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Sue Stuart, Chief Executive of the ECB, commented: “We have had a very good start to our new business year. The number of events in Edinburgh we are bidding for is slightly ahead of this time last year which is pleasing. We have a track record of converting eight out of ten enquiries into confirmed bookings and we aim to continue that success rate.”
She added: “However we can’t afford to be overconfident in what will again be a very tough year in a highly competitive international market. That is why we have increased our research resource to identify more professional association meetings suitable for Edinburgh in order to sustain the growth of business tourism within the local economy.”
The events being targeted by the ECB have a wide variety of subject matter ranging from renewable energy to infectious diseases, reflecting Edinburgh and Scotland’s reputation as a centre of excellence in the fields of energy, medicine, life sciences, computing and electronics.
A 2% increase in the value of business tourism won with the assistance of the ECB has been set for the current year (2010/2011) which would see the sector inject 75.7 million pounds Sterling into the Edinburgh economy.
As it works towards that target, the ECB has also announced that ten new events have been confirmed for the city. The bookings were taken between 1-18 April (2010) and will be worth an estimated £5.5 million to the economy and will attract up to 3740 delegates.
The largest of the newly confirmed events is a meeting of the European Society of Condensed Matter Materials organised by the Institute of Physics which will be hosted by the Edinburgh International Conference Centre.
The four day event which is scheduled to be held between the 3rd and 7th of September 2012 will attract up to 1200 delegates and is valued at 2.3 million pounds Sterling.
Editors Notes
ECB helped win 257 conferences in Edinburgh during 2009/10 worth 74.2 million pounds Sterling to the economy.
Edinburgh is the most popular UK city after London for hosting international association meetings and is the 28th most popular business tourism destination in the world.
In order to count towards ICCA ranking an event must rotate its location between a minimum of two countries and have at least 50 (international) delegates.
The annual total value of Edinburgh’s business tourism is estimated at almost 300 million pounds Sterling.
The Edinburgh Ambassadors Programme matches recognised leaders in the city’s many areas of academic and commercial excellence with the professional marketing support of ECB staff who together work as a team to help them bring their international association’s conference to Edinburgh. Since 1996 the programme has helped bring more than 210 major events, worth almost 100 million pounds Sterling, to the city.
Edinburgh is a founder member of the international www.bestcities.net strategic alliance, which aims to guarantee the meetings industry the world’s best service experience in each of the member cities (Cape Town, Copenhagen, Dubai, Edinburgh, Melbourne, San Juan, Singapore, Vancouver).
To learn more about ECB visit http://www.conventionedinburgh.com/
Issued on behalf of ECB by fs communications.
For further information contact:
Frank Sullivan
Telephone: +44 (0)7718660122
Email: frank.sullivan@btconnect.com
###
Contact
Edinburgh Convention Bureau
Frank Sullivan
07718660122
www.conventionedinburgh.com
Frank Sullivan
07718660122
www.conventionedinburgh.com
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