Neil Brownlee was born and raised in Scotland’s capital. He attended the school where his father taught, going on to study hospitality in Strathclyde at the Scottish Hotel School. CN asked him about his career and strategy at the VisitScotland Business Tourism Unit (BTU) he heads.
What was your first career ambition?
We spent many happy Easter holidays at Peebles Hydro Hotel in the Scottish borders where I was fascinated by the workings of a big hotel and developed a burning ambition to be a chef.
This was in the late ‘70s, long before the advent of the celebrity chef.
My skills did not match my ambition and my career did not ‘pan’ out in that direction. However, my passion for the industry remained and I cut my teeth on nearly every job except chef (I probably had the most fun as a hotel porter).
I have been privileged to work in many of Scotland’s finest hotels working my way up from butler to the dizzy heights of night manager (my social life and pallor never really recovered) and on to become the Director of Sales and Marketing at Balmoral in Edinburgh.
During a second Balmoral tenure the MTV Awards were in town and I found myself star-struck, bumping into Beyoncé, Justin Timberlake and Christina Aguilera. Talk about the right place at the right time.
I was awarded a seven-week Savoy Cornell Scholarship in New York as a callow youth of 21.
I was blown away by New York City and hotels such as the Waldorf Astoria (we will have one in Scotland soon) and the American customer service ethos. That inspired me to return across the pond for a three-and-a-half years with Le Meridien in Boston.
What inspired you to move into the business tourism sector?
After more than a decade working in hotels, an opportunity came up to use my skills with Sodexo Prestige which was so different, with tough margins to be achieved. However, that gave me insights into conferences and events from a catering and event management perspective. When the opportunity to join VisitScotland’s Business Tourism Unit arose, I felt that one of my strengths was an ability to empathise from the other side of the fence, the operator’s perspective.
What have been the biggest challenges to date in your current role?
To move business tourism up in the psyche of not just the industry, but its various influencers. The value of leisure tourism is widely recognised. Business tourism, despite the fact that it is hugely influential, is often misunderstood, so the challenge was to ‘turn up the volume’ in Scotland.
We have been working hard to spread the message, all the way up to the Scottish Tourism Minister. The biggest reward is the support we are receiving, both in an ambassadorial sense with business tourism being front of mind rather than an afterthought, and in a practical way with initiatives like the launch of our Bid Fund.
We have had to make every pound work harder, while not stepping away from markets that were decreasing but had the potential to come back and deliver the greatest return.
VisitBritain cut its business tourism unit, yet VisitScotland has continued to invest?
Tourism is already devolved to Scotland and tourism in all its forms is too important economically to be ignored. That is understood and supported across all political parties and public sector agencies in Scotland. As the only dedicated business tourism unit in the UK now, we continue to make a bold statement about our commitment to this sector.
How do you view our industry’s own exhibitions?
We all know the constraints on budgets, so we constantly reevaluate what we’re doing. Our remit is to work with the industry, so shows like Confex, SquareMeal and IMEX are all important opportunities for us to go where the industry needs to be represented. Our stand is a huge presence and doesn’t come cheap.
Part of our job is to help the industry get in front of the buyers. Better to do so on a stunning destination stand than to take a wee shell scheme which can look a bit miserable and cost you just as much.
The Scotland Means Business traditional workshop will remain our flagship platform in Scotland.
Next year we take it to Inverness for the first time. I’ve yet to come up with a better name than ‘Scotland Means Business’ though I see everyone has copied it over the years…
How easy has it been to implement your vision at the BTU? We know about the leading Scottish brand icons such as castles, golf, whisky, Highland scenery and the pull of Edinburgh and Glasgow, but what have you added to the mix?
Scotland is by nature a mix of the old and the new, and a truly diverse experience. We value our icons, as do our visitors, but buyers need to have confidence around accessibility and technology, so these are the additional messages we push.
‘The Winning Years’ campaign is a call to capitalise on all the fantastic events either in Scotland or in which Scotland will have a part to play from 2012-2014. The Winning Years comprise the Year of Creative Scotland, the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, The London Olympics, Disney Pixar’s Brave, the Year of Natural Scotland, the Year of Homecoming 2014, The Glasgow Commonwealth Games and the Ryder Cup.
We want to be able to look back and say ‘Gosh, that was busy, did we make the most of it?’ and that the answer will be ‘Yes!’.
What are the key investments in the Scotland business tourism product?
We have been talking about £2bn in business tourism infrastructure just completed or underway. Now the chat is about the next £2bn. Trump International Golf Links (a £1bn project at Menie Estate near Aberdeen – Ed) is a major contributor and it will be wonderful to have a resort on that scale in the North East.
The V&A at Dundee is another major project in the pipeline, due to start next year; the Scottish Hydro Arena at the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre is going to give us the largest
arena outside the O2 in London; and the Edinburgh International Conference Centre expansion is utilising state-of-the-art engineering to take flexible event space to a new level.
We are pleased to be welcoming both the Professional Convention Management Assocation’s inaugural global corporate summit and Trailblazers, for senior employees of North America’s most qualified incentive and meeting planning companies, to Scotland this year.
Outside of the industry, how do you relax?
I like to go to places completely different from work. So, while you might expect to see me taking advantage of one of our 550-plus golf courses, you would be more likely to find me in a cosy bar reading the newspapers or rereading an Ian Fleming novel.
I aim to take one holiday to unwind on a beach and one vaguely cultural. I find city breaks not in the least bit relaxing.
I admire destinations which offer quirky marketing and humour. Australia springs to mind. My favourite place in Scotland is the village of Balquhidder on the shores of Loch Voil in Perthshire. Heaven on earth.
How will the 2012 Olympics affect Scotland?
We have embraced the Olympics factor, both in terms of making the most of the events that will happen here in Scotland, and in promoting the fact that, while London may be busy, Scotland’s doors are open. One ‘win’ is the International Convention on Science, Education and Medicine in Sport, bringing an estimated 3,000 delegates to Glasgow in July, with a potential economic benefit of £6m.
How does the political question of Scottish independence affect your role?
Whether or not Scotland is independent makes no difference in terms of our ability to deliver great events.
If you were to choose three unique Scottish experiences for delegates visiting for the first time, what would they be?
Only three? Top of the list would be:
- Wear a kilt
- Watch the massed pipes and drums emerging from the darkness (Beating the Retreat) after a gala dinner at an atmospheric castle or country house venue
- Sit down to dinner in the Great Hall of a castle where kings and queens of Scotland have dined generations before
Do you have a favourite tartan or whisky?
Any of the myriad Speyside malts, always with a wee dash of water, never ice.
I like any tartan that complements my red hair and am, as I write, flicking through samples to have a pair of tartan trews made.
This was first published in the July edition of Conference News. Any comments? Email conferencenews@mashmedia.net
