This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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Buyers of business conference facilities
17/11/2004
Influential buyers of business conference facilities
from across the globe met at the Westin Turnberry Golf and
Leisure Resort in Ayrshire tonight.
Tourism Minister Patricia Ferguson outlined Scotland's
range of world-class venues and new product developments
to 80 buyers from the UK, Europe and North America.
She said:
"Tonight is a great chance for conference facility
buyers to explore the possibilities which Scotland can
offer their businesses.
"Scotland has a diverse range of excellent facilities to
hold events of all sizes and needs, coupled with the
professional conference organisers to help you ensure your
event is a great success.
"There are few countries with as great a wealth of
leisure activities and incentive packages.
"Turnberry, with its internationally reknowned Ailsa and
Kintyre courses and incentive programmes involving treasure
hunts, falconry, clay pigeon shooting, gala banquets and
mini Highland Games - is just one of many of the top-class
resorts in Scotland which will help us to reaslise our
ambition of growing our tourism sector by 50% over the next
decade.
"We want to ensure that you will visit Scotland, return
to Scotland, and thoroughly enjoy your Scottish
experience.
"One of the ways of achieving repeat business with our
clients is by working hard to make sure their needs and
expectations are met, and exceeded."
Tonight's event was organised by VisitScotlandr held and
attracted the largest international contingent ever
Business tourism accounts for a quarter of all tourism
expenditure in Scotland and contributes £941 million to the
economy.
It is a fast growing sector - in the first quarter of
2003 it accounted for 33% of all tourism spend, compared to
24% in the first quarter of 2002.
The spend per night for business tourism is £112
compared to £49.50 for non-business spend, i.e. 2.3 times
higher than for leisure tourism. In 2002 there were 20.1m
tourism visitors (an increase of 5% on 2001 levels) and
3.1m business tourism visitors (an increase of 11% on 2001
levels). Business tourism expenditure equates to 22% of
total tourism expenditure.
For Ayrshire and Arran, average tourism figures for the
past three years (UKTS 2001-2003 & IPS 2001-2003
respectively) are:
- UK tourism - 1.1 million trips with total spend of
£164.87 million
- Overseas Tourism - 0.076 million trips with total
spend of £37.3 million
The main overseas markets for business tourism are USA
(26% of overseas business tourism), Germany and France
(each accounting for 4%).
Business tourism provides good seasonal spread - 49% of
UK business tourism visitors visit Scotland in the months
October to March, compared to 42% of leisure tourism
visitors; while 33% of overseas business tourism visitors
visit Scotland in the months October to March, compared to
14% of leisure tourism visitors.