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MTV boost for Edinburgh
07/11/2003
The MTV Europe Music Awards helped boost room bookings in Edinburgh's top hotels by almost a quarter.
Preliminary findings of an economic impact study to determine the benefits of hosting the 'music Oscars' has shown a dramatic rise in hotel bookings during the week of the event and on the night of the Awards ceremony.
The study commissioned by the government funded economic development agency Scottish Enterprise Edinburgh and Lothian, shows:
• Overall hotel occupancy on the night of the Awards was 98 per cent which is up by 23 per cent on the same night last year
• During the week of the Awards occupancy was recorded at 93 per cent, an increase of 22 per cent over the same week last year
Commenting on the Awards, Frank McAveety, Minister for Tourism, Culture and Sport, said:
"Millions of people saw Edinburgh and Scotland last night, and they saw that Scotland is a world class host for major events such as this. I want to build on this success to make sure that we bring more events of this magnitude to Scotland."
"It was a fantastic night, and it proved to a global audience that Scotland has all the best parties! The Awards show at Leith and the party in Princes Street Gardens showed Scotland as a must visit, must return destination and I hope that many of the MTV audience will now come here to see Scotland for themselves."
MTV has 11 Europe channels covering 48 countries reaching 114 million households. Edinburgh's 'exposure' across this network reached saturation level during the six week run up to last night's Awards ceremony.
While a normal advertising campaign running for that period on the MTV Europe networks would cost in excess of £2 million the equivalent value to the city and Scotland of the promotional campaign for the MTV Europe Music Awards will be much higher with a potential worldwide audience of 1 billion people watching the Leith and Princes Street Gardens shows.
Richard Godfrey, Executive Producer of the MTV Europe Music Awards, said:
"This was the perfect show for our 10th anniversary celebrations. Edinburgh is a fantastic location for an event of this scale. We were delighted with the MTV Europe Music Awards, and MTV in the Gardens. We want to thank everyone in Scotland for their support and warm welcome. To show our appreciation we are for the first time creating a special award that will be presented to Edinburgh and Scotland at a later date."
Jim McFarlane, Chief Executive, Scottish Enterprise Edinburgh and Lothian, said:
"Hosting the MTV Europe Music Awards has been an exhilarating experience. Edinburgh and Scotland have been the focus of the world for the biggest pop event of its kind.
"The benefits of that level of exposure, to a young global audience, are immeasurable in our efforts to profile the city and Scotland as a vibrant, innovative international destination that they should visit. In the shorter term we also expect the event to deliver an additional £4 million into the local economy, benefiting a whole range of businesses."
"The challenge now is for us to make sure we capitalise on the success of the MTV Europe Music Awards. The work does not stop here."
Councillor, Donald Anderson, leader of the City of Edinburgh Council, said:
"Edinburgh was delighted to welcome MTV and to host the Awards' 10th anniversary. It was a fantastic night at both Leith and Princes Street Gardens and Edinburgh showed once again to a worldwide audience that it is among the world's top destinations for conferences and events of this scale."
David Williams, Chief Executive of EventScotland, said:
"The huge success of Thursday's award ceremony alongside a week-long programme of MTV concerts throughout Glasgow and Edinburgh demonstrated Scotland's outstanding ability to deliver high-profile international events."
Terry Smith, Property Director of Forth Ports PLC said:
"Leith is the site of one of Europe's largest and most prestigious waterfront developments and attracting the MTV Awards to the Ocean Terminal Arena clearly reflects its international standing."
More than 7,000 bednights were booked in the city by MTV for the world's leading pop stars, their entourage and MTV executives and staff. The value of these bookings is £1.5 million.
Smaller hotels will also have felt the benefit of up to 700 journalists and media specialists descending on the city to send reports and broadcasts of the event around the world.
The total value of the event, including spend in bars, restaurants, hotels and taxis will be captured by the economic impact study being conducted by SQW.
The report will also reflect the use of local companies by MTV to help them produce the 10th MTV Europe Music Awards in Leith. More than 50 per cent of all contractors providing services were Scottish - based, the largest percentage in the Awards history.
It is estimated that up to £4 million pounds will have been generated for the local economy.
A public sector partnership involving, Scottish Enterprise, EventScotland and the City of Edinburgh Council contributed a total of £750,000 to the additional costs of bringing the 10th MTV Europe Music Awards to Edinburgh. This investment met half the cost of constructing a temporary venue and without the funding the event would not have come to Scotland.