Policy actions  2 of 3

Major events

Major events play a vital role in Scottish tourism by attracting people to Scotland and enhancing the country's international profile.

We have delivered, and are continuing to deliver, a series of initiatives and major events as part of Scotland's National Events Strategy. These include: 

We are also responsible for planning and delivering a portfolio of major international events, as well as ensuring a strategic approach to bidding for these events – whether leading or supporting the bid.

Forthcoming events

In 2023:

  • UCI 2023 Cycling World Championships

Major events secured in the past

In 2022: 

  • 150th Open Championship at St Andrews

In 2021:

  • UEFA Euro 2020

In 2019:

  • Solheim Cup
  • Mixed World Wheelchair Curling Championships
  • European Indoor Athletics Championships
  • Ricoh Women's British Open

Flagship events

The principal criterion to determine whether an event should enter our flagship events gateway process is that it is internationally significant and aligns with ‘Scotland The Perfect Stage’, or supports our broader policy priorities. Fundamentally, the successful delivery of a small number of flagship events would demonstrate that Scotland is still functioning as a host for world class events.

Flagship events are based on extensive advance planning across multiple organisations. Prior to an event entering this process, confirmation would be required from local partners that they are bought into working on delivery of the event.
Current flagship events are:

  • Edinburgh International Festival
  • Edinburgh Fringe Festival
  • TRNSMT

 Flagship events that have taken place:

  • UEFA Euro 2020
  • British and Irish Lions v Japan Test Match for the 1888 Cup
  • Abrdn Scottish Open
  • Trust Golf Women’s Scottish Open
  • British Orthopaedic Association (BOA) Congress
  • AIG Women’s Open

Any other flagship events will be added to this list once agreed by the Scottish Ministers.

UEFA European Championship 2020

Glasgow was one of twelve host cities for the UEFA European Football Championship (the Championship) which began in June 2020. The UEFA European Championship (Scotland) Act 2020 was necessary in order to deliver certain requirements to host the event. We proposed that changes were made to the exception from the ticket touting offence in the Act for auctions of tickets where the proceeds are given to a charity.

Read further details about the proposed changes.

Year of Young People 2018

Year of Young People (YoYP) 2018 was the first themed year to focus on the contribution of a group of people, and Scotland remains the only country in the world, that we know of, to dedicate a year to young people. 

YoYP2018 aimed to inspire Scotland through its young people, celebrating their achievements, valuing their contribution to communities, and creating new opportunities for them to shine locally, nationally, and globally.

More information and legacy resources from 2018 is on the eventscotland website and the archived YoYP website.

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