Profiling Scotland as a Business Events destination - News

Our Business Events team have recently attended international trade shows, IMEX Frankfurt 2026 and The Meeting Show in London, to champion Scotland as a key destination for business events, on the global stage.

What is Business Events?

Business events are a high-value part of Scotland’s visitor economy, contributing more than £296 million in 2024-25. The sector focuses on attracting meetings, conferences, corporate incentive travel programmes, congresses, product launches and exhibitions to Scotland.

Sometimes referred to as MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions), business events play a vital role in Scotland’s visitor economy. Business events are run by organisations for their members or employees, or for a specific target market with specific knowledge – for example, medical and life sciences. These events can attract thousands of delegates to a destination, delivering significant social and economic benefits.

Our Business Events team works to secure events for Scotland from across the UK and key international markets. This includes promoting Scotland at leading industry trade shows such as IMEX Frankfurt and The Meetings Show.

Read on to discover the impact of our attendance at these events so far in 2026.

IMEX Frankfurt 2026

A key date in our global business events calendar, IMEX Frankfurt brings together meeting and events planners with business event destinations, hotels and venues from around the world. It generates hundreds of millions of pounds worth of new business leads for 2027 to 2032, including for Scotland.

It’s also a platform for the global events community to develop new and existing working relationships, learn about the latest industry developments and ideas, and ultimately help to create the best possible events, meetings and conferences. 

The 2026 event had:

13,515 participants
73,000 meetings
4,739 buyers
160 press attendees from 21 countries
2,900 companies exhibiting

The Scotland stand was a vibrant hub throughout the show, welcoming approximately 730 visitors across the three days.

The Business Events team hosted 120 appointments, contributing to a total of around 380 meetings on the stand when combined with partner activity, demonstrating the continued global appeal of Scotland as a business events destination.

A large number of enquiries and leads are received for Scotland with high economic value for the country.

For 2026, the Scottish partners exhibiting on the Scotland stand were:

2B UK DMC
Aberdeen Convention Bureau
Cameron House
Edinburgh International Conference Centre (EICC)
Fairmont St Andrews
Glasgow Convention Bureau
Horizons Scotland DMC
K&N Travel DMC
National Museums Scotland
P&J Live, Aberdeen
The Royal Yacht Britannia / Fingal Hotel
Scottish Event Campus
Sheraton Grand Hotel & Spa, Edinburgh.

The Meeting Show London

At the end of June, The Business Events team and 13 Scottish partners attended The Meetings Show in London. The Meetings Show is the UK's leading two day exhibition connecting international meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions (MICE) buyers with global destinations, venues and suppliers.

Across the two days, the Scotland stand completed 248 pre-scheduled appointments and generated 446 new business leads, demonstrating continued demand for Scotland as a business events destination.

Partners attending this year’s show included:

Apex Hotels
Cameron House
Crossbasket Castle
Edinburgh Convention Bureau
Edinburgh International Conference Centre (EICC)
Glasgow Convention Bureau
Kimpton Blythswood Square and voco Grand Central Glasgow
Marine & Lawn
Old Course Hotel St Andrews
P&J Live
SCHLOSS Roxburghe
Scottish Event Campus (SEC)
The Hoxton Edinburgh.

In addition to scheduled appointments, VisitScotland enhanced the value of the exhibition through a programme of networking activity.

The team hosted an exclusive brunch for the Alliance of Independent Event Agencies (AIEA) and AMEX Global Business Travel, providing partners with valuable opportunities to deepen existing relationships, meet new buyers and continue conversations beyond scheduled appointments.

No Scotland, no party...

Our attendance at The Meetings Show coincided with the Scotland v Brazil match, taking place as part of the World Cup Tournament.

This became a particular highlight for the team, who hosted a celebratory 'No Scotland, No Party' reception held on day one of the event, just ahead of the football match.

We had Pipe Major Roddy Deans along to perform a bespoke mix of Scottish and Brazilian music, and we served Scottish and Brazilian themed cocktails. The reception attracted approximately 200 attendees and created a vibrant platform and atmosphere for networking!

We also welcomed Meet Boston to the party - continuing the celebratory legacy from the Tartan Army’s warm welcome to the city during the World Cup.

VisitScotland and friends at The Meeting Show London. Credit: Richard Knight