Inverness Highland Games sees ‘excellent’ reduction in hospitality costs - after £78 per head cost in 2023
A reduction in costs for hospitality at this year’s Inverness Highland Games has been greeted as “excellent news”.
According to the annual report from Highland Council’s Inverness common good fund sub-committee - presented to the Inverness area committee on Monday of this week - the cost per head for hospitality at 2023’s Games worked out at £44.89, rising to £78.04 if taking the cost of hiring a tent is also taken into accoun.
That was based on 100 people attending as guests at the event’s civic reception where the total food cost is reported to have been £4489. A sum of £3315 was also paid for the hospitality tent which would raise the per per person cost to £78.04 if taken into account.
The catering cost for the Games in 2023, per head, was close to double that paid for an Armed Forces Day event for 60 people held at Inverness Town House - which worked out at £22.53 (with the toal paid £1352) - and for a reception held to tie in with the ceremonial Kirking of the Council, which amounted to £25.77 per head, for 230 people. The total cost there was £5926.
Red Hot Highland Fling needs £100,000 subsidy to break even
Subscribe to receive free regular email newsletters
No details of the menus for any of these events were provided with the papers. The council has been asked if it can provide such details.
In minutes of a meeting of the council’s events and festivals working group held on Friday, June 28 and also presented to this week’s city committee, among details of discussions held about this year’s Inverness Highland Games, however, a reduction in its hospitality bill is noted in positive terms.
A £1000 saving on the food tender for Games hospitality compared to 2023 was “excellent news” the minutes stated.
No details of exactly how many people were catered for this time around are given and, again, no details are provided of the menu.
There seemed to be possible confusion among some councillors who were invited to the Games about exactly what their invitation entitled them to.
With queries having been received about whether there would be space in the hospitality tent for them the minutes noted: “It was highlighted that members would need to be reminded that their invitation was for the Highland Games and not the hospitality”.
And while the hospitality bill was down, an overall increase in the cost of the year’s Games was also noted.
This, it was reported, was “due to extra infrastructure costs in relation to works being carried out at Bught Park and the introduction of the Ceilidh”, the latter a new event for this year’s Games.
The minutes added: “It was raised that there had been no expenditure other than what was considered necessary, and all risks had been identified.”
Within the common good fund annual report the councillors are told how the Games hospitality for 2023, along with that for Armed Forces Day, the Kirking of the Council and several others, are budgeted as “recurring events”, adding: “Prior to an event being included in this category careful consideration is given to the event’s status by the ICGFSC (Inverness Common Good Fund Sub-Committee), with only those of significance to the city being included.
“Efforts continued to be made to reduce the number of Recurring Events and to scrutinise applications for these in order to keep costs under control.
“Members will be aware that the food costs have escalated significantly and so every effort continues to be made to manage numbers in attendance at civic events noting that no-shows are costly.”