Rising to the Event; profiting through event collaboration

At the Forum's latest Open Meeting at Glasgow Royal Concert Hall on the 5th December, which was free to members and only £35 + VAT for non-members, we explored how tourism businesses can best profit from events and festivals.

Scott Taylor, Chief Executive of Glasgow City Marketing Bureau (pictured right), gave a dynamic, extremely well received presentation on the impact which the Bureau's 'Glasgow: Scotland with Style' brand has had on the city. Scott explained the ambitious and innovative principles behind Glasgow's Tourism Strategy to 2016, which sets a goal of up to 80% revenue growth and increasing hotel capacity by 3,000 rooms by that date.

Following the meeting STF Chief Executive Iain Herbert praised the Glasgow approach, commenting; There are obvious benefits to investors of having a single body to deal with, and the ten-year vision provides people with a focus on the repositioning of Glasgow and the investment it needs to achieve that in terms of land available with outline planning permission for hotels. This kind of approach makes it easy for people coming along with investment."

Read an article in The Scotsman on the meeting.

Delegates also enjoyed an interesting presentation by Lynne McPhee, Deputy Bid Director and Head of Marketing for Glasgow 2014, who outlined the bold marketing campaign which helped to secure the Commonwealth 2014 Games.

Fiona Hampton, Director, and Alison Bell, Marketing and Communications Manager, of Highland 2007 reflected on how tourism businesses have profited from the unique festival over the past year and  Fiona Murray, Forest Tourism Initiative Manager, Forestry Commission Scotland, discussed innovative campaigns, such as The Enchanted Forest, which extend seasonality.

Dick Mungin, Chief Executive of The Scotland Funds, addressed delegates on 'Engaging with the Scottish diaspora market -the opportunities offered by Year of Homecoming 2009 and every year thereafter' - highlighting what he believes to be significant untapped diaspora markets in North America.

The presentations were followed by a lively debate chaired by Iain Herbert, STF Chief Executive, featuring the above speakers and Leon Thompson, Corporate Communications Manager of EventScotland.

View a detailed agenda for the day