Meet our Senior Events Manager - News

Our Meet the Team series spotlights staff across VisitScotland.

In this feature, Senior Events Manager Mark Stewart shares how he has built his career in the tourism and events industry, which major events are coming up this summer and where he goes to enjoy Scotland's outdoors.

Tell us a bit about your career

I’ve been working in the EventScotland team since 2010, supporting events across the country as well as working on bids to secure major events for Scotland. Some of the highlights have been working on the winning bid to secure matches in the UEFA EURO 2020 football tournament for Glasgow, working with the team at V&A Dundee on their spectacular opening event in 2018 and in recent years supporting the committee organising the Orkney 2025 Island Games taking place this July.

I studied for a degree in Travel and Tourism, which included a placement at what was then the Scottish Tourist Board - an experience that certainly dates me! Since then, I’ve spent my career in various destination and events roles including:

in Stirling, I worked on product development, including the redevelopment of the National Wallace Monument
in Edinburgh, I helped establish the Edinburgh Tourism Action Group (ETAG) and launched the Farmers Markets at Castle Terrace
in Liverpool during an exciting period for the city, I worked to raise its profile as a destination and to maximise the tourism benefits of its year as European Capital of Culture in 2008

A man standing in front of a colourful sign that says Orkney 2025, International Island Games XX

Pictured: Mark at the Orkney Island Games 2025

What does your current role involve?

Our team provides vital support to the events sector to help grow the visitor economy. I work with partners in local authorities, sports governing bodies and cultural organisations to identify opportunities to attract new events to Scotland.

One of the key things that our team does is to provide event organisers and businesses with advice and funding support for events. My role involves looking at the viability of proposals and applications for funding to support events which can deliver impacts across different areas, such as economic, social and cultural, media coverage, image and reputation and sustainability.

And luckily, I get to travel around Scotland to attend events too!

Why are events important to Scotland's visitor economy?

Events provide reasons for people to visit places and support businesses in our destinations, and some of our most well-loved events are really connected to the communities they take place in – we have so many great examples of this in Scotland including Wigtown Book Festival or the Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival to name just a couple.

As well as the money that someone attending an event might spend on tickets, merchandise, food and drink, the event organiser is also spending money with local hotels for staff, performers and participants, marketing companies, transport operators and specialist trades like electricians, joiners, lighting engineers and sound engineers. This ripple effect creates valuable opportunities for local businesses and communities to thrive.

It’s estimated that events are worth around £5.5 billion to Scotland. When you consider that Scotland’s tourism industry as a whole is worth around £11 billion, this shows the importance of events to the visitor economy and in making Scotland an even better place to visit, do business, work, study, and live.

Learn more about Scotland's visitor economy

Pictured: Ceilidh band playing at Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival

Tell us about some of the big events taking place this summer?

We’re so lucky in Scotland that we stage some of the largest events in the world each summer. Edinburgh’s annual summer Festivals are visited by a similar number to a FIFA World Cup. They are an example of our signature events, those events which are internationally renowned and a key part of Scotland’s cultural identity.

Scotland is the Home of Golf and this year we have the Genesis Scottish Open and Women’s Scottish Open showcasing Scotland’s world class golf courses to the world.

One of the aspects which makes Scotland the perfect stage for events is that we also host new events or events which have to be bid for years in advance.

This year is no different and in July we see two of those taking place.

The Orkney 2025 Island Games is an international multi-sport event which will see athletes travelling from island communities as far away as the Falkland Islands, Gibraltar and Cayman Islands. They’ll compete in 12 sports against teams from communities closer to Scotland such as Isle of Man, Faroe Islands and Menorca. And not forgetting our home athletes from Orkney, Shetland and Western Isles.

Aberdeen is hosting the Tall Ships Races for four days in July and will see 48 spectacular sailing ships berthed in the city’s harbour with a fantastic family-friendly festival taking place. This will be one of the most spectacular events of the summer, and what’s more it’s free to go along and enjoy the action at the quayside.

Finally, where do you enjoy spending time in Scotland as a visitor?

The Cairngorms is one of my favourite places, especially the area around Rothiemurchus.

I don’t complete Munros as regularly nowadays however there are so many walking and cycling routes all around the Cairngorms making it an ideal place to enjoy Scotland’s outdoors.

My last Scottish break was to Highland Perthshire where I enjoyed the scenery in beautiful sunny weather.

A man stands with his dog on a path in the middle of Cairngorms National Park. The path leads into mountains behind him.