The Edinburgh International Conference Centre (EICC) which is an Arms Length External Organisation owned by The City of Edinburgh Council has reported both increased turnover and profit.
The city centre venue reports increased revenue of £12.8 million to 31 December 2023 up from £11.8 million the previous year. Profits of £2.6 million are a record and a huge increase from £699,000 in 2022. The EICC hosted 132,000 delegates last year and estimates the economic impact on the city and surrounding region at £58 million.
EICC Chief Executive, Marshall Dallas, said: “We kept our sales team intact throughout the pandemic, which in retrospect was integral to our revenue performance last year because we were able to hit the ground running post-pandemic.
“Holding large international association conferences is a significant part of our raison d’être, and in the current year we already have twenty-one international conferences confirmed to take place, so that’s a really encouraging number for us and for business tourism in general in Edinburgh and Scotland.”
Two of the major international association conferences taking place this year at the EICC are the World Congress on Controversies in Breast Cancer in September, and the 36th International Papillomavirus Conference in November 2024.
The EICC was used as the capital’s main vaccination centre in 2021 in partnership with NHS Lothian and more recently the EICC recently hosted the 3-week long Scottish module of the UK Covid-19 Inquiry, which Marshall Dallas says is a sign of how the venue has come full circle since the onset of the pandemic:
He said: “After closing our doors in March 2020, we pivoted to become the city’s main vaccination centre the following year, and it felt fitting to have the recent Covid inquiry here in the same building. In addition to being a commercial enterprise, hosting events of this nature fulfils our triple bottom line objectives of having a strong economic value, leading the way in sustainability, and positively impacting societal matters.”
In December, the EICC announced a string of major conference wins over the next three years that will equate to its strongest ever pipeline of events business. The 40 conferences and events will bring around 20,000 delegates to Edinburgh and the EICC and translate to around £32 million of economic impact.
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