The Edinburgh International Conference Centre (EICC) has announced an increase in revenue by 45% to £11.8m during 2022 (2021: £7.4m).
CEO Marshall Dallas noted “fast-returning confidence” in the Scottish events sector and is looking ahead to the next phase of growth at the centre.
Dallas said: “Our 2022 figures tell a post-pandemic rebound story and, combined with bookings in 2023 and the pipeline for 2024 and beyond, we have real confidence that the industry is returning to pre-Covid levels.”
The EICC hosted approximately 72,000 delegates in 2022 and has now hosted over 2m delegates since opening its doors in 1995. Notably, the EICC was also Edinburgh’s main vaccination centre in 2021, working in partnership with NHS Lothian.
In 2022, the EICC recorded a local economic impact in Edinburgh and the surrounding region of £51.9m, with a total economic impact to date of approximately £790m.
Dallas added: “Economic impact is an important measurement of the benefit that the EICC brings to the city, and the planned hotel and hotel school development is going to add to this number while creating jobs in the sector.”
The planned hotel development includes the EICC’s franchise agreement with Hyatt Hotels Corporation of a 350-bedroom Hyatt Centric hotel in the Haymarket area of the city.
The EICC’s team hopes that the hotel, announced in June 2022 and set to open in 2025, will improve the strength of the Centre as an international event destination. A large draw is set to be its sustainability plan, focusing on zero fossil fuel energy.
EICC plans to reinvest revenue into the conference centre and hotel, with the additional aim of addressing recruitment challenges in Scotland’s hospitality industry through the hotel school.
Other plans
During 2022, the EICC launched an academic advisory board known as the Exchange Initiative, designed to raise Edinburgh’s global profile, highlight the city’s university sector’s research, and drive association conference bid wins.
In the same year, the EICC announced that it had taken on the management and operations of Edinburgh’s Convention Bureau to help drive Edinburgh’s business events sector.
This week, the EICC will host the Global Equity Organisation’s 24th annual conference 19-21 April.
