(TAN): Business events can generate at least GBP 217 million (USD 269.62 million approximately) for the Scottish economy, a new survey has found.
The Scottish Association Survey, created by VisitScotland Business Events, showed the United Kingdom conferences accounted for 53% of the 447 association events that occurred in 2018-19, while international events made up the rest.
The survey took into account conferences organised by academic or trade membership organisations with a minimum of 50 delegates, and are aimed at the United Kingdom or international members.
Around 42% of the United Kingdom delegates and 37% of international delegates extended their stay by three days on average, and 90% said they would come back to holiday in Scotland.
The VisitScotland survey hosted 130,000 delegates translating to 425,600 “delegate days”, of which Life Sciences represented most of the delegated days at 55%, followed by ICT and Data, and Social Sciences. Of the Life Sciences topics, the most common were Human Health & Disease and Surgery & Medicine.
Most of the events at 58% lasted for two to three days while the longest continued for eight days. These events took place at 80 venues across Scotland, with over half of them happening at an academic venue.
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Head of VisitScotland Business Events, Neil Brownlee, said the data can be useful to “inform businesses and venues when marketing for associations” and in strengthening the “delegate experience”.
“While ongoing restrictions mean 2020 will be a challenging year for business events, these results reveal Scotland can continue to be an incredibly attractive destination for conference organisers, attracting huge numbers of delegates; delegates who spend in our cities and towns, and support our key sectors like Life Sciences and Data,” he said.
Business events are significant for fuelling social and economic change, especially post-COVID, and Scotland could play a crucial role in it, he further said.
“However, the impact of business events goes far beyond venues and accommodation providers. They are crucial for supporting social and economic change, and as the world emerges from Covid-19, we want Scotland to be leading those international conversations,” Brownlee added.
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