A gathering place for business
Scotland's businesses are clearly thriving. But what about the business of business itself? Business tourism is now worth over a cool 1 billion to the Scottish economy.
That's 1 billion or nearly a quarter of all the income generated from tourism that comes from businesses putting Scotland top of their destination list for meetings, conferences and company incentives.
So why do they all come? Partly, for the same reasons that every other tourist comes to Scotland. For the warm welcome, the bustling cities and stunning backdrops. To pit their wits against some of the 500 golf courses, to sample some of 300 different brands of whisky, or perhaps explore one or two of nearly 800 individual islands.
For businesses too, there is the added attraction of a surprisingly large and extremely varied choice of meeting/conference facilities and incentive programmes.
From state-of-the-art to country estate
Whether it's for 10 or 10,000 delegates, Scotland has the perfect venue. From dynamic city hotels to award-winning, purpose-built conference centres and exclusive country retreats, Scotland fits right in with business.
Our big three conference centres are all world class. Scotland's national venue for public events, the Scottish Exhibition & Conference Centre (SECC) in Glasgow, is also the UK's largest integrated exhibition and conference centre. Up to 3000 delegates can be accommodated in its conference centre and 10,000 in its largest hall, plus there's over 10,000sqm of exhibition space. Its opposite number in the east, the Edinburgh International Conference Centre (EICC) is another state-of-the-art facility, this time with enough flexible seating capacity for 1200. And in the north, the Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre provides conference facilities for up to 2000 delegates.
For smaller meetings and conferences, Scotland offers a rich array of city, country and resort hotels. Perthshire's world famous Gleneagles Hotel has 275 rooms. Much newer, the St Andrews Bay Hotel, which opened Spring 2001, offers outstanding meeting facilities, complete with its own golf course overlooking the town. Turning to the Capital, Edinburgh's Sheraton Grand Hotel boasts a new spa that's already acclaimed as among the best in the world, complementing the five star main hotel with its 244 rooms. Meanwhile, for those meetings where privacy and security are paramount, exclusive use castles such as Ackergill Tower, close to Wick, and Dundas Castle, near Edinburgh, offer a spectacular alternative.
What's on the agenda?
Fantastic facilities aside, Scotland's meeting and conference venues offer a colourful and varied programme of activities, designed to stimulate even the most demanding delegates. In settings ranging from all-inclusive resorts and deluxe city centre hotels to charming country house-style properties and historic castles, businesses can choose from incentive programmes including treasure hunts, golf days, falconry, clay pigeon shooting, gala banquets or mini Highland Games. For the more adventurous, there's off-road driving or white water rafting to get the blood pumping.
Best of both worlds
While tradition, castles, kilts, bagpipes and whisky still make up a large part of the appeal, a modern flavour of Scotland is just as likely to include wacky pipers as it is the Address to the Haggis, or sushi as it is smoked salmon. And with cashmere and tweed reinventing themselves, delegates are spoilt for choice for what to take home.
To promote this important and growing sector of the economy, VisitScotland has established a dedicated Business Tourism unit. The Scottish Convention Bureau is a one stop shop for any business seeking impartial advice or assistance with any aspect of planning events in Scotland. Offering a free venue locating service, conference and incentive guides and facility visits, the Scottish Convention Bureau is the business!