VisitScotland has announced that organisations from the business events industry in Scotland are adapting its businesses to support the community and key workers during the Covid-19 crisis.
Across the country, over 200 hotels have volunteered to accommodate frontline medical staff and key workers, providing 20,000 beds free of charge.
In Edinburgh, the commercial arm of the Royal College of Surgeons, Surgeon’s Quarter, is offering its services to frontline clinical and medical staff. Its 129-room hotel, Ten Hill Place, is now home to frontline workers from the city’s hospitals and has provided more than 1,000 free room nights. Its Surgeons Quarter Travel agency is also supporting clinical and medical staff to find accommodation close to their places of work.
The Edinburgh International Conference Centre (EICC) is sharing local volunteering opportunities to support charities and those deemed as vulnerable. The list, titled ‘Compassion Against Covid’, highlights different activities for the public to take part in whilst in isolation. The list also showcases free gigs and concerts, which are set up by Edinburgh’s culture magazine, The Skinny.
The Scottish Events Campus (SEC) in Glasgow, is one of several venues across the UK to be transformed into a temporary hospital. The SEC has been temporarily renamed NHS Louisa Jordan, after First World War nurse Sister Louisa Jordan who was born in the city. The hospital provides an additional 1,000 hospital bays for Covid-19 patients to support the city’s hospitals and health service.
The exhibition centre has seen more than 23,000sqm of flooring installed, a delivery of over 8,000 pieces of medical equipment, 35,000m of network cabling for its nurse call system and 135,000m of cable to create lighting and power sockets.
Distilleries such as Brewdog and Kingsbarn Distillery have adapted its facilities to create products including hand sanitiser. The Scotch Whisky Association has created a ‘hand sanitiser portal’ on its website which calls for Scotch Whisky producers to develop and distribute high-strength alcohol and hand sanitiser products to industry suppliers.
Neil Brownlee, head of business events at VisitScotland, said: “I am incredibly proud of the proactive approach and collaboration between our partners all across Scotland at what continues to be a very difficult and uncertain time for our industry.
“So much has been achieved in such a short amount of time and there are new, positive stories emerging every day of our partners’ ability to adapt and evolve their businesses to support the wider community; it really is remarkable. As always, the team at VisitScotland Business Events will continue to do whatever we can to support our partners and our industry.”
