A GROUP of delegates controlling more than $1 billion of event spending are meeting in Glasgow, with backers hoping to attract several more lucrative conferences and business tourists to Scotland.
The Professional Convention Managers Association (PCMA) is hosting its first global corporate summit in the city with support from the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre (SECC), Glasgow City Marketing Bureau (GCMB) and tourism body VisitScotland.
The invitation-only event, which starts on Sunday (July 22), will feature just 30 people but they represent major international brands including Microsoft, Nike, Cisco and McDonald's.
The first two days will involve meetings and strategy sessions at the SECC, with the third and final day taking place at Gleneagles, although delegates will also visit Edinburgh.
Business tourism is worth more than £800m to the Scottish economy each year.
Ben Goedegebuure, sales director of the SECC and international board director for the PCMA, said: "This is a really exciting development for us. These are blue chip top-end corporate planners representing really big companies.
"As well as hopefully attracting events in the future, the PCMA event really endorses Scotland's reputation in the conference business.
"Glasgow and Scotland have done quite well in creating a value proposition to attract people, and we hope to continue that."
Neil Brownlee, head of business tourism at VisitScotland, said: "It is a superb opportunity for us to showcase a selection of our world-class event facilities to some of the most significant buyers of events in the world, not to mention our making a bold statement of Scotland's commitment to this sector."
PCMA, which has its headquarters in Chicago, has members from more than 35 countries.
Glasgow recently secured seven conventions, worth about £27m to the local economy, with help from VisitScotland's national bid fund.
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