Economic Benefit

Economic Impact of Scottish Exhibition + Conference Centre

One of the inherent benefits of venues such as the SECC, and in many cases the principal reason why such venues are built, is the economic benefit that events staged at the venues bring to the local and national economy through the expenditure of visitors, exhibitors and organisers.

Exhibitions, conferences and events staged at SECC attract people from outside Glasgow and from outside Scotland. These people spend significant sums of money during their stay; in hotels; in restaurant, buying gifts, travelling about the City etc. Many visitors, particularly from outside Scotland, bring their partners and sometimes their children and stay on after the event they are attending and have a holiday in Scotland. Similarly, exhibitors from outside the area frequently spend substantial sums of money on their stand and a significant proportion is spent locally additionally, stand personnel stay in hotels and spend money in the city during the open period of the exhibition.

Calculating the economic impact of venues is extremely complex. Venues use many ways to calculate the economic benefit they bring; some present robust figures based on sound economic principles, others use a less scientific approach. Regardless how the calculation is made, there is little doubt that exhibition and conference venues generate considerable economic benefits.


Economic Study

In April 2006, SEC Ltd commissioned KPMG LLP to undertake an economic impact study of the SECC, covering the period April 2006 to March 2007. Specifically, KPMG were asked to assess the impact of the SECC on the local, Scottish and UK economies through:

  • Calculating the total business expenditure generated by events held at the SECC;
  • Calculating the total personal expenditure generated by attending and holding events at the SECC; and
  • Estimating the number of full-time equivalent jobs sustained.

The study was carried out in accordance with the guidelines set out in the Treasury Green Book.

The programme of work undertaken to complete this economic impact study was three-fold:

  • Stage 1: Primary research to determine the level of expenditure by different types of visitors and exhibitors across a sample of events;
  • Stage 2: The primary research data was then applied to the actual number of events and visitors to determine the level of gross expenditure;
  • Stage 3: The gross expenditure figures then had leakage, deadweight and displacement stripped and income and supply chain multipliers added to enable the net additional expenditure to be calculated.

The Results

Primary research was undertaken at 17 events held between April 2006 and March 2007. This comprised a total of 2,095 face to face interviews with visitors and exhibitors, plus 812 self completion questionnaires returned by visitors to one public exhibition.

During the period April 2006 – March 2007, a total of 244 events were held at the SECC, attracting approximately 1.29 million visitors and 30,000 exhibitor staff.

The net additional economic impact of the SECC is estimated to be:

  • £347 million in the Glasgow area;
  • £216 million in Scotland;
  • £109 million in the UK.

In terms of net additional impact by event type, as table 1 shows, concerts and events and public exhibitions have the greatest impact on the Glasgow area, while National and International confexes have the greater impact on Scotland. This is because they attract a larger proportion of visitors to Glasgow and Scotland from further afield.

Table 1: Net Additional Impact by Type of Event and Area of Impact (£m)

  In Glasgow In Scotland In UK
Concerts & events 112.6 38.0 8.1
National confexes 62.7 66.4 31.6
International confexes 57.3 62.2 55.1
Public exhibitions 81.9 30.1 5.4
Trade exhibitions 32.4 19.0 9.1
Total 346.9 215.8 109.3

In all three geographical areas, the two key sectors benefiting most from the existence of the SECC are accommodation and food and drink:

Table 2: Key Sectors

  In Glasgow In Scotland In UK
Accommodation £80million (23%) £72million (33%) £44million (40%)
Meals, food and drink £74million (21%) £35million (16%) £17million (16%)

For the Glasgow economy shopping is also a key benefit, with 20% of the net additional expenditure, or £68 million, spent on shopping in Glasgow. This excludes any purchases made at exhibitions or events held within the SECC.

Using industry benchmarks – sourced from the Scottish Executive and derived using Scottish Input-Output tables – it was estimated that the flow of money into the economy as a result of events at the SECC will support:

  • 6,755 full time equivalent jobs in Glasgow;
  • 4,236 in Scotland; and
  • 2,243 in the UK.

As would be expected, the majority of these jobs will be in the accommodation and meals, food and drink sectors: 55% of the jobs supported in Glasgow are in these two sectors, the equivalent figures for Scotland and the UK are 62% and 67% respectively.