PEEBLES Hydro and The Macdonald Hotels & Resorts Group’s Cardrona Hotel, Golf & Spa are taking part in a major international conference for event organisers which is coming to Scotland for the first time.

The Meeting & Incentives Forum Europe event, which is taking place from June 29 to July 3 will see delegates boasting a combined spending power of more than half a billion pounds congregating in Edinburgh for a convention which is being billed as a “once-in-a-generation opportunity” for Scottish businesses and is expected to give the capital an economic boost of nearly £1m.

Hosted at the Edinburgh Conference Centre (EICC), the event has previously been held in the likes of Barcelona, Lisbon, Istanbul and Oslo. It Conference Centre (EICC) The successful bid for the M&I Forum Europe, which will comprise more than 7,500 meetings taking place in the space of only four days, was put together by the Business Events team at VisitScotland. Organised by Worldwide Events, the Edinburgh event is the biggest M&I Forum taking place this year, with others being held in Dubai, the Philippines, Florida, Malta and Austria.

Some 380 influential event planners from across Europe and the UK will attend the event to be introduced to 290 European suppliers, with 40 partners from around Scotland among those hoping to win big business at the event.

Other Scottish businesses taking part include The Gleneagles Hotel, Trump Turnberry, Glasgow Science Centre, The Royal Yacht Britannia, Crieff Hydro, and VisitAberdeen.

Approximately 75 per cent of the buyers – who boast a combined purchasing power of £575 million (£1.7m each) – work for event agencies. The remaining buyers are corporate event planners representing the likes of Renault, Johnson & Johnson and Canon.

Among the big-name suppliers from around the world are the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, Hilton and Royal Caribbean International.

In addition to the conference, VisitScotland has organised a series of familiarisation trips, allowing buyers to extend their stay and explore other parts of Scotland. Around 100 delegates have already signed up to take part in these trips.

Fergus Ewing, Scotland’s Tourism Minister, said: “Business tourism is an incredibly important strand of the tourism industry in Scotland. Not only does it reinforce Scotland’s credentials in key industries. It provides exceptional opportunities to build worldwide links and networks for key industry players in Scotland.

“Business visitors are often influencers in corporate location and inward investment. Conferences represent a great opportunity to showcase Scotland as a place to live, learn, invest in, buy from and visit – again and again.

“Yet again we see Scotland winning another internationally renowned conference, coming to the country for the first time, emphasising the outstanding work being conducted by those involved in the business tourism industry.” Amanda Ferguson, Meetings and Incentives Marketing Manager at VisitScotland, said: “Quite simply, Scotland has never before hosted an industry Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions (MICE) event on this scale. This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to showcase the Scottish Borders, and of course Scotland as a whole, to hundreds of lucrative buyers from across Europe.

“Business tourism is worth nearly £2 billion to the Scottish economy and this event will ensure that this country continues to punch above its weight in this key industry.”