This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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MTV boost for Edinburgh
07/11/2003
The MTV Europe Music Awards helped boost room bookings
in Edinburgh's top hotels by almost a quarter.
Preliminary findings of an economic impact study to
determine the benefits of hosting the 'music Oscars' has
shown a dramatic rise in hotel bookings during the week of
the event and on the night of the Awards ceremony.
The study commissioned by the government funded economic
development agency Scottish Enterprise Edinburgh and
Lothian, shows:
• Overall hotel occupancy on the night of the Awards
was 98 per cent which is up by 23 per cent on the same
night last year
• During the week of the Awards occupancy was
recorded at 93 per cent, an increase of 22 per cent over
the same week last year
Commenting on the Awards, Frank McAveety, Minister for
Tourism, Culture and Sport, said:
"Millions of people saw Edinburgh and Scotland last
night, and they saw that Scotland is a world class host for
major events such as this. I want to build on this success
to make sure that we bring more events of this magnitude to
Scotland."
"It was a fantastic night, and it proved to a global
audience that Scotland has all the best parties! The Awards
show at Leith and the party in Princes Street Gardens
showed Scotland as a must visit, must return destination
and I hope that many of the MTV audience will now come here
to see Scotland for themselves."
MTV has 11 Europe channels covering 48 countries
reaching 114 million households. Edinburgh's 'exposure'
across this network reached saturation level during the six
week run up to last night's Awards ceremony.
While a normal advertising campaign running for that
period on the MTV Europe networks would cost in excess of
£2 million the equivalent value to the city and Scotland of
the promotional campaign for the MTV Europe Music Awards
will be much higher with a potential worldwide audience of
1 billion people watching the Leith and Princes Street
Gardens shows.
Richard Godfrey, Executive Producer of the MTV Europe
Music Awards, said:
"This was the perfect show for our 10th anniversary
celebrations. Edinburgh is a fantastic location for an
event of this scale. We were delighted with the MTV Europe
Music Awards, and MTV in the Gardens. We want to thank
everyone in Scotland for their support and warm welcome. To
show our appreciation we are for the first time creating a
special award that will be presented to Edinburgh and
Scotland at a later date."
Jim McFarlane, Chief Executive, Scottish Enterprise
Edinburgh and Lothian, said:
"Hosting the MTV Europe Music Awards has been an
exhilarating experience. Edinburgh and Scotland have been
the focus of the world for the biggest pop event of its
kind.
"The benefits of that level of exposure, to a young
global audience, are immeasurable in our efforts to profile
the city and Scotland as a vibrant, innovative
international destination that they should visit. In the
shorter term we also expect the event to deliver an
additional £4 million into the local economy, benefiting a
whole range of businesses."
"The challenge now is for us to make sure we capitalise
on the success of the MTV Europe Music Awards. The work
does not stop here."
Councillor, Donald Anderson, leader of the City of
Edinburgh Council, said:
"Edinburgh was delighted to welcome MTV and to host the
Awards' 10th anniversary. It was a fantastic night at both
Leith and Princes Street Gardens and Edinburgh showed once
again to a worldwide audience that it is among the world's
top destinations for conferences and events of this
scale."
David Williams, Chief Executive of EventScotland,
said:
"The huge success of Thursday's award ceremony alongside
a week-long programme of MTV concerts throughout Glasgow
and Edinburgh demonstrated Scotland's outstanding ability
to deliver high-profile international events."
Terry Smith, Property Director of Forth Ports PLC
said:
"Leith is the site of one of Europe's largest and most
prestigious waterfront developments and attracting the MTV
Awards to the Ocean Terminal Arena clearly reflects its
international standing."
More than 7,000 bednights were booked in the city by MTV
for the world's leading pop stars, their entourage and MTV
executives and staff. The value of these bookings is £1.5
million.
Smaller hotels will also have felt the benefit of up to
700 journalists and media specialists descending on the
city to send reports and broadcasts of the event around the
world.
The total value of the event, including spend in bars,
restaurants, hotels and taxis will be captured by the
economic impact study being conducted by SQW.
The report will also reflect the use of local companies
by MTV to help them produce the 10th MTV Europe Music
Awards in Leith. More than 50 per cent of all contractors
providing services were Scottish - based, the largest
percentage in the Awards history.
It is estimated that up to £4 million pounds will have
been generated for the local economy.
A public sector partnership involving, Scottish
Enterprise, EventScotland and the City of Edinburgh Council
contributed a total of £750,000 to the additional costs of
bringing the 10th MTV Europe Music Awards to Edinburgh.
This investment met half the cost of constructing a
temporary venue and without the funding the event would not
have come to Scotland.