EventScotland And Tourism And Events Queensland Sign Event Hosting MoU
EventScotland and Tourism and Events Queensland (TEQ) have announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understand (MoU) in an effort to drive best practice in the securing and delivering of major sporting, cultural and business events.
The three-year MoU agreement was announced during the Host City 2019 conference in Glasgow this week, aiming to build on the relationship Scotland and Queensland developed during their respective hosting of the Commonwealth Games in 2014 and 2018.
As part of the agreement, EventScotland and TEQ will collaborate in the areas of information sharing, event bidding and prospecting, impact measurement, delivery capability and strategy development.
VisitScotland’s director of events, Paul Bush, said the sporting events market is thriving and undergoing a major shift.
“Events play a key role in our society by helping to bring strong social and economic benefits to the whole country,” Mr Bush said.
“We are delighted to be signing this MoU with TEQ that will allow both organisations to flourish through the regular sharing of knowledge and insights into this incredibly dynamic and exciting industry.
“Unlike any other year, I believe we have seen the tectonic plates of the world sporting events shift, collide and indeed, totally reshape.
“We have seen record crowds and TV audiences for major international events including the 2019 Solheim Cup at Gleneagles and the Women’s World Cup in France.
“We’ve also seen pay parity and equality and diversity continue to be topical subjects and while we’ve seen great strides in the last 12 months, there is still much work to be done within the equality and diversity agenda as sport still lags behind society,” he said.
TEQ chief executive, Leanne Coddington, discussed the importance of events to Queensland and any host location.
“Events not only drive visitors to Queensland, but also contribute strongly to the economy in their own right, whether they be large-scale sporting events, business events, cultural events or community events,” Coddington said.
Bush also added that there is still a lot of work to be done in the major events industry to ensure the success and continued smooth running of events leaves a lasting positive impact for every host.
“The year has also raised a number of interesting scenarios within the area of contingency planning,” Bush said.
“While some organisers like the Cricket World Cup got it spot on, others did not, and it is an area we need to focus our minds and give further consideration to ensure we are not left wanting.
“We have also seen a seismic change in audience and fan engagement, with some events like the World Athletics Championships failing to ignite the interest of locals, leaving stadiums unfilled while others like the Women’s Netball World Cup in Liverpool and England women’s football team’s recent match against Germany playing to sell-out crowds.
“With the world changing at a rate of knots, as an industry we need to respond at the same pace to the many variables that now exist,” Mr Bush said.
The signing of this MoU between EventScotland and TEQ comes as Glasgow is preparing to plan the delivery of the 2023 Cycling World Championships, which Glasgow was awarded the rights to in February.
The event will bring together 13 International Cycling Union World Championships from different cycling disciplines for the first time.
