Glasgow is celebrating Christmas early with the news that the city has won conferences worth just over £50 million in the past seven months.
Between April and November, Glasgow City Marketing Bureau
confirmed 94 new conference wins, which will attract 42,255 delegates, generating £50.6 million for the local economy.
Among the confirmed conferences, were: the Scottish Learning Festival (3500 delegates), McDonald’s Managers Conference (1500), The Social Brain 3 (1500), a 2000 delegate medical conference, and the 1000 delegate Congress of the International Association for Paediatric Dentistry.
Molly Doheny, Head of the Convention Bureau at Glasgow City Marketing Bureau, said: “It has been a very challenging year for the meetings industry globally, so we are delighted that Glasgow has managed to secure so much business in this highly competitive environment.
“It is a testament to the city’s highly competitive offering and the Team Glasgow approach with all major public and private sector partners working together, that we have won this business in such a tough economic climate.”
Conference delegates are an extremely important source of business for hotels in Glasgow. A report from consultants Deloitte in November showed that Glasgow and Edinburgh were the only two cities in Europe to experience a rise in hotel occupancy. The global report by Deloitte, which tracks 38,000 hotels and five million rooms worldwide, found Glasgow’s hotel occupancy was up 0.5% at 75%.
Scott Taylor, Chief Executive of GCMB, added: “European hotel occupancy has been on a downward curve since January 2007. Glasgow has continued to outperform its competitors.
“Its strong performance is reflected in the level of interest from developers and it’s the place where smart money chooses to invest.”
More than 2,500 new hotel beds are due to come onto the market in Glasgow between now and 2012. These include the five star Jumeirah Glasgow with 160 bedrooms, Jury’s Inn (230), the Savoy Centre (220) and the Grand Central Hotel (170).
For more information, visit Glasgow City Marketing Bureau
Related Article:
