It couldn’t get much worse - John McLellan

One reason Edinburgh has no marketing strategy is because senior council officers decided to scrap the Marketing Edinburgh agency, and dopey councillors went along with it.

EICC chief executive Marshall Dallas. Picture: Stewart Attwood

Chief executive John Donnelly was axed and one of his main responsibilities, the Edinburgh Convention Bureau which sought to attract international conferences, was chucked to the Edinburgh International Conference Centre (EICC), whose boss Marshall Dallas insisted he didn’t want it.

He did, however, strongly argue the EICC needed control of a hotel to guarantee conference delegates could book rooms at reasonable rates to give it a competitive edge in a tough market. In the end he got both.

Although the £72k bonus he received last year on top of a £158k salary is unquestionably princely, who would take on the coordination of an emerging 350-bed hotel and training school, and responsibility for selling the whole city, not just the EICC, in the international conference market for nothing?

In nine years running the EICC, Mr Dallas has delivered consistent operating profits, and as Mr Donnelly was paid just under £140k, it’s arguable that it’s actually a reasonable deal.

However, sceptical SNP councillor Kate Campbell, who finished off Marketing Edinburgh when Housing, Homelessness and Fair Work committee convener, this week complained Mr Dallas was paid more than Edinburgh Council’s chief executive Andrew Kerr who runs a much bigger organisation.

So, here’s an idea; save even more money by giving Mr Dallas the top council job and maybe the whole thing might become as efficient as the EICC. It couldn’t get much worse.