Events and Conferences Deliver Bumper Month for Glasgow Hotels

In a month that saw the Glasgow Art Fair, Glasgow International Festival of Contemporary Visual Art, Triptych contemporary music festival, the 2,000-delegate British Cardiac Society conference at the SECC and Take That play the same venue, occupancy rates in Glasgow hotels soared by 4% compared to the same period in 2005.

Figures from the Greater Glasgow Hotels Association City of Glasgow Forecaster, representing 27 hotels, show that the average occupancy of Glasgow hotels in April 06 reached a six-year high of 72% compared to 68% in April 05, 68% in April 04, *66% in April 03, 64% in April 02, 65% in April 01 and 66% in April 2000.

Willie Wood, GM at the Glasgow Marriott and co-chairman of the Greater Glasgow Hotels Association said, "This is fantastic news for Glasgow and shows that hotels working in partnership with the Glasgow City Marketing Bureau and SECC to attract large conferences and events to the city pays dividends for everyone."

Scott Taylor, chief executive of Glasgow City Marketing Bureau added, “Occupancy in Glasgow’s hotels is a great barometer of the city’s performance as a tourism destination and we’re delighted that April 06 has shown considerable growth over previous years.

“The reasons for this are numerous, not least of which is the fact that Easter was mid-month. But it’s clear from the figures that events and conferences are a key driver of visitors to the city and the Glasgow City Marketing Bureau continues to play a central role in winning and managing this type of business.

“This news comes on top of a great first year for the Bureau, with conference sales increasing by 8% and conference accommodation bookings soaring by 71% to £2.4 million in the year ending March 2006. We estimate that one in five rooms in Glasgow is now sold to a conference delegate.”

Performance across the month was consistently high, with peaks of 90% occupancy on the night of April 4 and 92% occupancy on the night of April 29.

Major events, conferences and concerts that took place in Glasgow in April are as follows:

Events

Glasgow Art Fair 2006 – 6-9 April

Glasgow International Festival of Contemporary Visual Art –19 April-1 May

Triptych – 26-30 April

Conferences

European Congress of Endocrinology

1-5 April

SECC

6 days

3,000 delegates

18,000 room nights

Eastercon (Meeting of the UK chapter of Worldcon – the World Science Fiction Convention - which met in Glasgow in September 05)

14-17 April

Crowne Plaza hotel

4 days

1,000 delegates

5,000 room nights

British Cardiac Society

24-27 April

SECC

4 days

2,000 delegates

10,000 room nights

VisitScotland Expo (Scotland’s only business to business event for the travel trade, which returned to Glasgow in 06 after a two-year absence)

26-27 April

SECC

1,000 delegates

1,700 room nights

Gigs

Kaiser Chiefs – 19 April – SECC

Take That – 30 April – SECC

Ends

Further information from:

Nancy McLardie, Head of Public Relations, Glasgow City Marketing Bureau

Tel: 0141 566 0830 or mobile: 07710 349394. Email: nancy.mclardie@seeglasgow.com

Note to Editors:

*Greater Glasgow Hotels Association City of Glasgow Forecaster is produced by Lynn Jones Research Ltd. using data collected from 27 Glasgow hotels, representing approximately 4,105 rooms. This particular survey was established in 2004 to monitor the impact of the Glasgow: Scotland with style branding campaign on city hotels. Prior to 2004, data was collected from hotels in the Greater Glasgow & Clyde Valley area, representing 34 hotels with approximately 5,372 rooms. The figures given above for 2003, 2002, 2001 and 2000 are therefore for Greater Glasgow & Clyde Valley.

PR49/BUMPERMONTHFORHOTELS/17MAY06