£70 million boost for Scotland’s conference industry

An influx of conferences from all over the world is set to boost the Scottish economy by more than £70 million, it has been announced.

The events, which cover everything from life sciences and education, to food and drink and renewable energy, successfully applied for support from the VisitScotland Bid Fund, which was set up last March.

To date, £722,000 worth of support has helped to confirm 29 conferences, which will bring a combined 44,000 delegates to Scotland over the next five years.

The Conference Bid Fund is designed to help attract conferences to all areas of Scotland, not just those taking place at city centre venues, and vary in size. Recent examples include the Adventure Conference on Skye, which was attended by 70 adventure experts from around the globe and, earlier this month, the Society of Biblical Literature which brought more than 850 delegates to the University of St Andrews, benefiting the local economy by around £1.7m.

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