THE Edinburgh International Conference Centre achieved record annual revenues, profits and economic impact in 2018, boosted by a jump in international corporate business.
It posted operating profits of £1.4 million for 2018, up from £1.2m in the prior year and more than double the £625,000 recorded for 2016.
EICC chief executive Marshall Dallas highlighted the significant turnaround in the conference centre’s performance since 2014, a year in which the EICC recorded an operating loss of £1.5m.
The EICC, which is owned by The City of Edinburgh Council but operates at arm’s length from the local authority, achieved a rise in revenues to £11.8m last year from £11.2m in 2017. It put its economic impact in 2018 at £58.1m, up from £55m in the prior year. The conference centre noted its visitor numbers totalled more than 300,000 in 2018.
The EICC highlighted its attraction of the TEDSummit 2019 as a highlight in terms of business wins last year. It is anticipated that this event will attract more than 1,000 guests from around the globe, who are expected to contribute around £5m in total to the local economy. TED is a global community of people interested in how ideas can improve the world.
Mr Dallas said: “Winning the 2019 TEDSummit was a big coup for the EICC and the city. It demonstrated that collaboration between the Scottish Government, VisitScotland and various city partners can achieve really successful outcomes, which was particularly evident having secured the event against strong competition from across the globe.”
The EICC’s revenues from international corporate business rose by 161 per cent last year, with “key successes in both financial and tech sectors”.
Headcount at the EICC rose from 44 in 2017 to 48 last year. This included the strengthening of the sales function.
The conference centre said that, in spite of some wider industry concerns around the impact of Brexit, the EICC had increased its European business while continuing to develop revenue streams outside Europe, including in North America and China.
Mr Dallas said: “We have invested heavily in the sales team over the last couple of years, and this is now paying dividends. While UK and European association conferences remain integral for EICC, we’ve increased our activities outside Europe, which we believe to be a prudent measure in the face of the uncertainties surrounding Brexit.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here