Tag: tourism

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Edinburgh’s business tourism boosted by Medical conferences

Edinburgh’s position as a world leader in medical research, life sciences innovation and entrepreneurship is being reinforced, with a significant number of health organisations choosing the city as a host destination for events and conferences this autumn.

In 2018-2019, the business tourism team at Marketing Edinburgh, supported on 37 health conferences, bringing 18,321 delegates to the city. This accounts for almost half (44 per cent) of business tourism revenue generated over that period of time.

These figures reinforce Edinburgh’s reputation as a pioneering hub for medical science, also strengthen Edinburgh’s position in the ICCA world rankings; 27th in the world, second only to London in the UK for hosting international conferences.

Some of the conferences scheduled for the remainder of 2019 include the International Conference on Law Enforcement and Public Health (Edinburgh International Conference Centre, October), Compassionate Mind Foundation’s International Conference (Royal College of Physicians, October) and World Extreme Medicine (Dynamic Earth, November).

The international research network One Health Platform views the city as leaders in the field, choosing Edinburgh over other global cities as the host destination for the 6thWorld One Health Congress in June 2020.

Lisa Boden, co-chair for the 6th World One Health Congress, said: “Edinburgh is a leading global hub for medical research and innovation, its universities attracting some of the world’s best talent in the field. We’re very much looking forward to working with the city’s research institutes, the Scottish Government, Marketing Edinburgh and the EICC to share knowledge, collaborate and hopefully further our cause: to ultimately make a different to society and the lives of people globally.”

This significant win, a collaboration across Marketing Edinburgh, VisitScotland Business Events, Scottish Government, University of Edinburgh and the Edinburgh International Conference Centre, will deliver an estimated £3.3 million for the local economy and presents an opportunity for industry experts from across the globe to collaborate and share knowledge.

Amanda Ferguson, head of business tourism at Marketing Edinburgh said: “It’s the aim of the business events campaign, ‘Make It Edinburgh’, to showcase the Scottish capital’s centres of excellence, our life sciences sector being one of these.

“With esteemed and influential events such as World One Health Congress choosing Edinburgh as a host city, there is an opportunity to not only showcase and share our expertise, but to allow the sector to grow and flourish. Greater expertise and entrepreneurship in health and life sciences ultimately attracts more talent and investment, delivering economic growth through innovation.”

Dr Neil Anderson, University of Edinburgh, was a key member of the bid team. He said: “We are thrilled to host the Sixth World One Health Congress in Edinburgh in 2020, welcoming international health scientists and professionals, opinion leaders and policy makers from the One Health community to Scotland’s capital.

“As a global facing university, we have vibrant One Health and global health partnerships nationally and internationally, and we look forward to showcasing the world of Scotland’s world-leading collective of research institutes, and engaging with other stakeholders to improve the health of people, animals and the environment.”

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Meet Bristol launches new incentive travel campaign

Meet Bristol has launched a new incentive travel digital campaign aiming to bring new business to the city.

Ranging from lemur feeding and cemetery tours to chocolate workshops and futuristic farming, the city’s convention bureau has added more than 100 incentive experiences to its website.

The campaign comes after the bureau observed an increased demand for second tier destinations to present bookable experiences with a creative flair for the incentive travel market, reflecting the destination’s passion and style.

Kathryn Davis, head of tourism at Destination Bristol, said: “Bristol is open for business and the region continues to develop its offer to the corporate and association markets. This campaign focusses on the more unusual opportunities for incentive travel, including many unique to Bristol. By providing a wide range of experiences, event organisers can select those of interest and combine them with meetings to develop exciting and innovating programmes.”

The Bristol incentives website invites visitors to discover a range of Bristol-bred activities, with experiences divided into eight categories.

Uniquely Bristol includes hard-hat tours of the hidden vaults at the Clifton Suspension Bridge, behind-the-scenes theatre tours at Bristol Old Vic and a peek at the University of Bristol’s ornate 18th century gardens at Goldney Hall.

The other seven categories are Food and Drink, Creative Experiences, Luxury Experiences, Culture, Outdoors, Accommodation Experiences and Beyond Bristol.

These offer the chance to explore a host of venues across the city and wider region, including The New Room, the oldest Methodist building in the world; Brunel’s SS Great Britain, the world’s first luxury cruise liner dating back to 1843; and sailing on The Matthew, a replica of the 15th century ship that John Cabot sailed from Bristol to discover North America.

Other incentive experiences available include the opportunity to spend the night in an ‘industrial designer apartment’ or in a rooftop retro caravan; stay in a floating hostel, sleep in the UK’s largest four-poster bed or ‘get close to the animals’ at Wild Place Project’s Camp Baboon.

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Tourism industry confident despite Brexit, says UKinbound research

The research, which was collected by Qa Research, found that 59% of UKinbound members stated they were confident about business in the upcoming 12 months. This was the highest rate recorded since October 2017.

The increase in confidence was influenced by an influx of forward bookings, the value of the pound, and increased interest from North American and Asian markets.

Business also signalled that the number one activity they’re expecting to be most in demand from inbound tourists are cultural experiences, followed by ‘bespoke activities’.

However, businesses also stated the industry faces a number of problems in the upcoming months, notably the uncertainty around Brexit.

Staff recruitment and retention, improving the UK’s product offering and offers for visitors, attracting visitors from new markets, and currency fluctuations were also cited as general concerns.

A review of 2018 found a few interesting statistics:

  • Throughout 2018 China and the US remained the two top growth markets
  • Less than a third (28%) of members felt that over-tourism has a negative impact on their business
  • A key challenge for many members continued to be the reduction of available EU workers

UKinbound CEO Joss Croft commented: “It is encouraging that even with the uncertainty surrounding Brexit, our latest Business Barometer shows that forward bookings are strong and that there is an increase in confidence levels amongst some of our members.

“However, we remain concerned about the Government’s proposed immigration strategy post-Brexit, which will look to restrict employing EU nationals to those only earning over £30k. 

“Recruitment and retention of staff in the industry is already a challenge – due in part to Brexit, and this proposed restriction could have a real impact on the industry, which relies heavily on its EU employees due to their language and customer service skills.”