Deeper commitment to festivals and events in Scotland

A ten-year strategy to position Scotland as a centre of excellence for hosting events has been unveiled by the Scottish Government, which is hoping to enhance the country’s reputation nationally and internationally by growing its £3.5bn events industry.

The new strategy, drawn up as part of ‘Tourism Scotland 2020’, a strategy for the tourism industry established by the Scottish Tourism Alliance, has come about following an 18-month consultation with the public, private and third sectors. It covers major events of international significance as well as smaller events supporting local communities, and aims to capitalise on the success of the previous strategy, which culminated in 2014 with events that included the 20th Commonwealth Games, the 2014 Cultural Programme, and more than 1,000 events in the Homecoming Scotland programme.

The latest Perfect Stage strategy focuses on the importance of communities and partnerships between the public, private and third sectors in staging successful events. Recognising events as a driver of Scotland’s visitor economy, its focus is on developing existing Scottish events as well as major one-off events, and it recognises the role of education and training in developing the events industry. Improving how the economic, social, environmental and promotional value of events is evaluated is also seen as a priority. VisitScotland’s Events Directorate has led the development of the strategy and among the events already in the calendar are “landmark celebrations” set to take place in 2017 to mark the 70th anniversary of the Edinburgh Festivals.

Responsibility for delivering the strategy will be collaborative, shared by the Scottish Government, the events and festivals sector and individual event organisers, “to ensure that Scotland continues to develop, improve and invest in the events industry”. Fiona Hyslop, Cabinet Secretary for Culture, Europe and External Affairs, said: “The events and festivals sector is a major contributor to the Scottish economy locally and internationally, creating jobs and making a significant contribution to our standing on the world stage… [The strategy] will ensure Scotland continues to develop, improve and invest in events over the next ten years, with clear economic, social and reputational benefits for Scotland.”

Brigadier David Allfrey MBE, Chief Executive of the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo and Events and Festivals Champion for the Scottish Tourism Alliance, has emphasised the value of local events as part of the bigger picture. He said: “The Perfect Stage is not only a description of Scotland’s offer to events and festivals organisers but it is also an aspiration of what we have to work towards… It is crucial we nurture all our events, not just those that make headlines but those with local character and reach – those that contribute so much to communities.”