Glasgow has enjoyed a record year for conference business, according to figures out today.
The city hosted 538 events in 2018/19, bringing nearly 160,000 delegates attending UK and international meetings.
That was worth just over £150 million in delegate spend, the biggest yet according to Glasgow Convention Bureau , which is part of council leisure arm Glasgow Life.
The annual number of conferences held in Glasgow has increased by 153% from 213 in 2009/10.
In that period, the number of delegates has risen 90% from 84,000 while delegate spend has increased 70% from £88 million.
Councillor David McDonald, chair of Glasgow Life, said: “Glasgow understands the importance and value of its knowledge base economy, and these results are a clear endorsement of the confidence that the global meetings industry has in our city, particularly in key sectors like life sciences, engineering and sustainability, which account for more than 50% of our conference business.
“Many of these conferences are secured with the support of our world-class academic ambassadors who invite their international peers to meet here.”
Glasgow Convention Bureau works with the Scottish Event Campus (SEC), NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, the city’s academic community, transport operators and the tourism and hospitality industry on more than 100 bids for conferences every year.
Last month, a report by the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) showed Glasgow attracted more international delegates in 2018 than Melbourne, Milan, Chicago, Geneva and Washington DC.
Glasgow’s 30,000 overseas delegates put it 34th in ICCA’s index of 400 cities.
McDonald added: “As our latest ICCA ranking shows, as well as attracting smaller niche and specialist conferences, Glasgow’s strategy of targeting major international congresses, which attract thousands of overseas delegates and deliver significant economic impact, has positioned us in the top 10% of conventions destinations in the world.
“It’s testament to how hard the city and industry partners have worked together to maximise our share of the global conference market.”
Major conventions in Glasgow in 2018/19 included the World Federation of Hemophilia, the World Down’s Syndrome Congress, the Royal College of General Practitioners’ Annual Conference and the National Cancer Research Institute Conference (NCRI).
The 2018 NCRI Conference will return to Glasgow in November this year.
Professor Owen Sansom, director at the Beatson Institute for Cancer Research and co-chair of the 2018 NCRI Conference, said: “Glasgow is increasingly being recognised as a first choice host for the world’s most important medical meetings and that reflects the strength of the city’s academic community and the tremendous energy and support from the teams at the SEC and Glasgow Convention Bureau.”
