Our Events Directorate takes a strategic lead in the Scottish events industry and is responsible for working with partners to attract, bid for and secure major sporting, cultural and business events worldwide. Over the past decade we have brought some of the world’s biggest event properties to the country including the Ryder Cup, Commonwealth Games in 2014 and European Championships 2018 and future events such as The Solheim Cup 2019 and Euro 2020 Football.
EventScotland
EventScotland is led by Robbie Clyde, and is the team which promotes Scotland as the Perfect Stage for Events. Their primary focus is the development of a strong events portfolio for Scotland through direct investment and other support, as well as maximising and measuring the impact of events in Scotland.
Strong partnerships are cornerstone of the team’s work and it is this collaborative approach that has attracted and secured a number of upcoming major international events to Scotland including:
- UEFA EURO 2020, Glasgow (11 June - 11 July 2021)
- Aberdeen Standard Investments Scottish Open, North Berwick (8 – 11 July 2021)
- Aberdeen Standard Investments Ladies Scottish Open, venue TBC (12 – 15 August 2021)
- The 150th Open, St Andrews (July 2022, and at Royal Troon in 2024)
- AIG Women’s Opens (Carnoustie in 2021, Muirfield, Gullane in 2022 and St Andrews in 2024)
- Festival UK* 2022
- 2023 UCI Cycling World Championships, Glasgow and Scotland
More on how we support Scotland's events industry.
Development - Events Industry
The Development team is led by Marie Christie, they play a lead role in our collaboration and support of the events industry and wider events economy with a focus on partnerships and collaboration, education and knowledge sharing and quality organisation and delivery.
The team leads on and delivers a range of activity across four key strands:
- Strategic leadership and co-ordination of Scotland’s Themed Years
- Delivery of a programme of Events and Exhibitions including VisitScotland Expo, the Scottish Thistle Awards and the National Events Conference
- VisitScotland’s Growth Fund, facilitating innovation and growth through the support of collaborative marketing projects
- Events Industry Development: a programme of engagement and activity to promote best practice within the events industry - an essential part of our contribution to the delivery of the National Events Strategy.
Business Events
This team is led by Neil Brownlee, the Business Events team is dedicated to driving business events such as conventions, corporate meetings, incentive groups, and product launches into Scotland from around the world, notably from North America, Germany, France, Spain and the rest of the UK.
The team works in partnership with the city convention bureaus of Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dundee and Aberdeen plus key venues, hotels and academic centres of excellence to attract business events related to Scotland’s ambitions key industry sectors including life sciences, fintech, digital, energy and food & drink.
Our aim is to drive Scotland’s economic and social progress through business events. For more information visit Business Events.
