20,000 delegates and £32 million boost: Edinburgh conference venue hails record run

Some 20,000 delegates are set to descend upon Edinburgh after one of Scotland’s largest conference venues secured its strongest ever pipeline of events business.

The closing quarter of the year has seen the Edinburgh International Conference Centre (EICC) seal a string of major conference wins, which will take place over the next 12 to 36 months, and generate around £32 million of economic impact for the city area. The events include major healthcare conferences such as the 36th International Papillomavirus Conference in November 2024, the Society for Cardiothoracic Surgery in GB & Ireland in March 2025 and the Association of Paediatric Anaesthetists Annual Scientific Meeting in May 2025. The EICC opened its doors in 1995 and has since played host to more than 1.5 million delegates.

Chief executive Marshall Dallas said: “We are proud to host some of the world’s top conferences from industries spanning environmental and engineering, health and bioscience, technology and education set for Edinburgh over the next few years, with over 50 per cent of these large association conferences coming from outside the UK. That’s great news not only for us, but for Edinburgh and the region.

“The credit for the conference wins we’re announcing goes to our sales and support teams, which we have carefully grown and strengthened in recent times, and the way in which the team works collaboratively with industry peers in Edinburgh and beyond to attract events to the city.”

The EICC launched an academic advisory board, named Exchange Initiative, in 2022, aimed at raising the city’s global profile, highlighting world-class research coming out of Scotland’s university sector and driving association conference business. This week has seen DDL 2023, the premier international conference covering all aspects of respiratory drug delivery, take place at the EICC, with the longstanding event hosted at the facility since 2005.

In October, Convention Edinburgh, which was relaunched under the guardianship of the EICC last summer, relaunched an “Ambassador” programme, bringing together Edinburgh’s academic talent and event industry professionals to form a network of ambassadors championing the city as a world renowned destination for academia and events.