Issue - meetings

By Councillor McLellan - Marketing Edinburgh

“Council:

1)         Notes that in 2018-19 Marketing Edinburgh exceeded its targets for membership revenue and partner investment while reducing its costs.

2)         Notes its activities helped generate £900m of economic activity for Edinburgh last year, including £72.4m of benefit from business tourism alone.

3)         Regrets the Housing, Homelessness and Fair Work committee could not accept proposals advanced by Marketing Edinburgh (an ALEO of this Council) for a new organisation, resulting in the resignation of the Marketing Edinburgh Board on November 4.

4)         Regrets that the actions of this Council put Marketing Edinburgh employees at risk of redundancy.

5)         Notes that Edinburgh will be alone amongst major City destinations in having no effective organisation to market or manage the visitor economy.

6)         Notes that Edinburgh has lost a key partnership with the tourism sector as it seeks to develop a new tourism strategy with ETAG.

7)         Asks the Lord Provost to write to the non-Councillor Board Members of Marketing Edinburgh as at November 3 to thank them for their contribution to the City.

Thanks the Lord Provost and other councillors who have served on the Board of Marketing Edinburgh.”