Marketing Edinburgh held an end of year party at Edinburgh Castle last week to end the year in style.
Chair of Marketing Edinburgh, Gordon Robertson, made an obligatory speech, but it was one which held the room in thrall.
Explaining that his day job working at Edinburgh Airport means that he is always mindful of ambition, he said : “At the airport we live and breathe ambition every day. I think the airport’s great because it is an opportunity to make a real contribution to Edinburgh. Connectivity we think is a key competitive advantage for any location, and it is massive for a city such as Edinburgh where all of our strengths are outward and international looking. We build upon and contribute to the city’s potential. We trade on its ambition, but then don’t we all?
“Our tourism industry is built on the ambition of our forefathers. Our careers are here because of the ambition of Edinburgh, the ambition of some medieval knights who decided that this was quite a good place to build a fort.
“The ambition of those planned and built the New Town that we see below us with audacious vision, clarity and purpose.”
The chairman continued by stating that : “Everyone in the city must benefit from tourism. How do we protect our city as we grow? It is not by saying that our city is full and turning away visitors.
“We should ensure that prosperity generates benefits for all. At Marketing Edinburgh we have been wrestling with this while looking at our strategy and plan for the next five years. We have a new board which is focussed on creating a sustainable and most importantly ambitious strategy for the coming years. It is an important and difficult time as we face uncertainty and turbulence on global, national and local levels.”
Chief Executive John Donnelly mentioned two key gamechangers, namely the City Region Deal and the City Vision which will assist the marketing body in its plans. He said emphatically : “Clear focus is absolutely required for Edinburgh to claim its place in the world and into the future.”
He then explained what Marketing Edinburgh had done to help in its aims. He said : “In June we changed our entire board with the exception of the Lord Provost and Gordon Rintoul. We thought that to go forward we needed a different blend of skills. Our new board is smaller in number and more agile. It is able to meet more often and includes two councillors Cllr Lezley Cameron and Cllr Webber along with four new non-executive directors all from the private sector.”
Using the trailer from Trainspotting 2 as a way of closing the speeches, Donnelly could not resist. He concluded : “Choose your future, Choose Life and Choose Edinburgh!”
Marketing Edinburgh is the organisation which sells Edinburgh to the rest of the world, as a conference venue or a place to visit for high days and holidays.
Their stated objectives are :
To develop wider global recognition of Edinburgh’s strengths and quality of life
To secure Edinburgh’s reputation on the global map of leading cities
To lead our partners in steering city promotional activity
To support and focus the city’s efforts for increased inward investment and the growth and sustainability of jobs
To engage Edinburgh’s residents and communities in the positive promotion of their city
To lever greater value for the city’s businesses and communities
To build on Edinburgh’s reputation as a successful conference destination
Photos Jon Davey Photography
Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.
