Hundreds of Britain’s removal companies will take to the road this year heading for Edinburgh and will deliver hundreds of thousands of pounds into the local economy.

Up to 300 representatives from member companies of the British Association of Removers are expected to attend their annual conference being held in the city at the beginning of May.

The event, worth an estimated £415,000, is one of 23 new conferences and meetings that the Edinburgh Convention Bureau (ECB) has helped win for the city.

In total they will involve up to 6,860 high spending delegates resulting in just over £9 million worth of economic benefit.

The latest conference wins mean that in the current financial year the ECB has assisted in bringing events with 46,105 associated delegates, with a spending power averaging of £364 per day, to Edinburgh.

The projected value of these events is £55.99 million, which is 78% of the ECB’s £71.7million target for the year ending in April.

“We set ourselves the task of achieving a 5% increase in business over last year’s total of £68.5 million,” said Sue Stuart, chief executive of ECB. “We are confident of achieving our goal and these latest figures are a significant boost towards meeting our targets.”

The Scottish Government is currently conducting a review into the planned 50% increase in tourism by 2015 and ECB has submitted evidence to the committee highlighting the importance of a competitive business tourism sector in achieving that ambitious target.

“It is the fastest growing sector in world tourism and is currently worth £911 million a year to Scotland’s economy,” said Stuart. “Business travellers spend 80% more per night than leisure tourists. Edinburgh enjoys an iconic status as the gateway to Scotland for leisure and business tourists. To maintain that status investment is required across a variety of areas from infrastructure to marketing and events. Our message to the Government is that without appropriate investment business tourism will be seriously compromised in helping achieve its growth plans for the industry.”