Candidate City Bid Support
Candidate City Bid Support
Applications for this financial year are CLOSED, as all funding for 2024/2025 has been allocated.
Funding up to the value of £20,000 can be granted to assist in bid costs for an international business event that is not currently held in Britain. In exceptional circumstances, backed by a strong business case, cities requiring more than £20,000 for a single bid may be considered however this is subject to available funds.
Funds can be used to support the following activities:
- Site visits (support up to £6,000 per each visit), including contribution towards accommodation and flight costs (not business class)
- Bid pitch, including costs for support and production of the pitch
- Production of bid booklet to distribute
- Translation costs of a bid
- Communications and digital activity, website, film or other content to support the bid
- Media/social media activity in support of the bid, such as industry/sector channels and networks relating specifically to the sector of the event being bid for
Interested in learning more about Candidate City Bid Support? Don’t hesitate to contact us for more information.
Who can apply
We welcome applications from Convention Bureau (CVBs), Destination Management Organisations (DMOs), as well as venues and Professional Congress Organisers (PCOs) who are partnering with CVBs/DMOs.
Please note: all applications will be assessed against the criteria outlined in the Candidate City Bid Support guidelines (PDF, 1.13 MB). If an applicant does not fulfil the mandatory eligibility criteria, the application will not be accepted. Applications will be considered by an appointed panel of industry experts. Applicants will be contacted if additional information is required.
How to apply
- Read carefully the application guidelines (PDF, 1.13 MB), paying attention to the fund’s objectives and eligibility criteria. If you need clarification do not hesitate to get in touch.
- If you fulfil the mandatory eligibility criteria, please complete the Bid Application Form (PDF, 923.43 KB) alongside the following supporting documentation:
- Annex B: Subsidy control declaration form (DOCX, 41.71 KB)
- BTA New Supplier request form (DOCX, 43.22 KB) – only applicable if your organisation has not received direct grant payments from VisitBritain before.
- Submit the application and the supporting documentation to [email protected] with the following reference in the subject line (Bid/Event name)
If you are applying for financial support for multiple bids, you can submit a single application, providing that all bids fulfil the criteria, the activity and spend occurs in this financial year (up to 31 March 2024), and the maximum combined value is £20,000 (incl. VAT). You will need to provide a clear itemised breakdown of the requirements and proposed activity for each bid/event in the application, and rank the bids in order of priority.
Please note: It can take up to six weeks from when the application is received to receive a Grant Funding Agreement.
Candidate City Bid Support roadmap
- Make your application for Candidate City Bid Support.
- Applications will be considered by a panel of industry experts.
- Successful applicants will be contacted after the panel decision.
Note: the assessment is a two-way process, and it can take up to six weeks from application to receive a Grant Funding Agreement. Please consider this when planning your activity.
How Candidate City Bid Support helped Glasgow’s world-class conference win
Held in nations throughout Europe, the annual Euroanaesthesia Congress is one of the world’s most influential hybrid scientific events. It focuses on anaesthesia, intensive care, pain, perioperative medicine and critical emergency medicine, and attracts over 8,000 attendees from more than 100 countries.
Candidate City Bid Support funding enabled the Glasgow bidding team to attend the ESA Board Meeting in Brussels in December 2019, to present the city’s bid to host the 2023 congress. This included live presentations to the ESA Board, followed by a detailed question and answer session. Glasgow received nine of the 10 ESA Board votes, in favour of the congress being held in Glasgow in 2023.
