This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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Minister supports efforts to boost business tourism
17/01/2003
Business tourism operators were today challenged to work
with the Scottish Executive and VisitScotland to maximise
the benefits this important sector of the tourism industry
can bring to Scotland.
Highlighting the significance of business tourism to the
wider Scottish tourism industry, the Minister for Tourism,
Culture and Sport, Mike Watson, said the Executive was
investing in the development of this sector.
And noting the link between the Government's strategy to
bring major events to Scotland and the potential to attract
business events to the country, the Minister said that
joint-working would maximise the potential benefits of
business tourism to the Scottish economy.
Addressing the Business Tourism Scotland two-day 'No
Agenda - No Limits' conference in Glasgow's SECC, Mike
Watson said:
"Business tourism is a high value, high yield market for
the Scottish economy, with a good seasonal spread. The
sector generates three million trips annually, and was
worth almost £900 million in 2001 - a quarter of total
tourism spending in Scotland.
"I fully recognise the significant importance of
business tourism within the Scottish economy.
"The average business tourist spends around 50 per-cent
more than the average leisure tourist, and the return on
investment achieved by the marketing of business tourism is
remarkable - in the region of 100 to one in Glasgow and
Edinburgh for example.
"Recognising these factors, the Executive has recently
invested more money in business tourism through
VisitScotland. Earlier in 2002, we augmented
VisitScotland's budget to the tune of £4.75 million, with
some of this extra money going directly to strengthen
VisitScotland's work on business tourism.
"The First Minister recently announced that we would be
setting up a new body - EventScotland - to take forward our
Major Events Strategy. There are clear links between the
attraction of major events of all kinds to Scotland, and
the promotion of business tourism. After all, major
business tourism events are major events in their own
right, alongside the sporting and cultural events which are
more usually thought of in this context.
"So while EventScotland will work hard to attract all
kinds of major events to Scotland, they will no doubt want
to work closely with the re-energised Scottish Convention
Bureau at VisitScotland to attract more major business
events to Scotland.
"We aspire to be a global leader in major events within
the next 15 years, and I think that it fair that the
industry and the Executive should look at setting the same
goal for business tourism. To achieve that will mean
working together.
"We need to build on, and not overlap with, the
excellent work already being done by some of the existing
players. We need to use to the full the attractions which
Scotland has to offer in this area. But I would suggest
that business tourism to Scotland has the capacity to grow
strongly in the years ahead, as part of our aspirations to
be a global events destination."
Tourism is one of Scotland's biggest industries,
supporting nearly 200,000 jobs - one in 11 people employed
in Scotland work in a tourism-related job - and
contributing £4 billion per year to the Scottish
economy.
This release was published on 21/01/2003