It is hoped new hotel developments will help the city

The Granite City stood accused of missing out on the lucrative conference market because more incentives needed to be offered.

A council report said a lack of hotel discounts could thwart efforts to attract more events, but noted that plans for new hotels could help.

A council committee backed offering financial inducements for such events.

In a report before Aberdeen City Council's economic development sub-committee on Monday, head of corporate communications Jill Moir explored strategies used by other cities and how these could work in the north east.

There could be an important kickback from repeat visits Jackie Selway Aberdeen and Grampian Convention Bureau

The willingness of international associations to travel and change venues, and the high spending of their delegates, was seen as key.

Mrs Moir said in the report: "A 500-delegate party political conference held over four days is expected to have an economic impact of approximately �320,000.

"Political conferences can more importantly deliver significant additional benefits because of the enhanced profile they bring to the host city.

"For this reason Aberdeen City Council has recently approved a budget of �50,000 per annum to help attract such conferences to the city."

Create fund

Mrs Moir said it was relatively easy to attract more conferences and conventions when a destination was willing to offer financial subsidies.

She argued the main problem with this approach was that those generally expected to provide the necessary up-front financial support do not directly benefit from the economic impact of hosting the conference.

Mrs Moir said: "Aberdeen does not generally offer such financial inducements and is therefore not currently in a position to compete nationally or internationally in this manner."

The report noted the cost of city hotel rooms, and a refusal of proprietors to offer advance discounts, has also "significantly hindered" previous attempts to attract political and public sector conferences to Aberdeen.

'Everyone benefits'

Mrs Moir added: "However, with several new confirmed hotel developments and several more developments expected, this may be less of a problem in the future."

She recommended to the committee that in years when no political conferences are hosted in Aberdeen the �50,000 budget allocated to supporting such bids is used to create a fund to attract other public sector events to the city.

The committee approved the idea.

Jackie Selway, of the Aberdeen and Grampian Convention Bureau, told BBC Scotland: "Everyone benefits. Delegates eat, sleep, shop and take transport.

"Plus for every delegate they are going back to where they came from to explain about the destination and tell the good points to family and friends.