Scotland’s new public body for the creative industries, Creative Scotland, has set out a corporate plan detailing plans to make Scotland one of the world’s most creative nations by 2020. It will do this using both government funding and other channels, such as lottery funding. As Anne Bonnar has recently observed in the Guardian, the plan is refreshingly positive: it recognises the value the country already has as a cultural destination, and seeks to develop it.

Nowhere is Scotland’s creativity more apparent than in its capital, Edinburgh, where a world-renowned arts festival draws thousands of people into the city each year and helps fund high-quality arts establishments that attract visitors all year round. This creative atmosphere is interwoven with an entrepreneurial spirit: organisations such as the Start Up Cafe help encourage new businesses and the cultural industries bring a great deal of business to the city. However, although Edinburgh’s numerous hotels are perfectly suitable for tourists, who stay for relatively short periods of time, they are less appropriate for business visitors who will be staying in the city for much longer. Many business visitors to the city are finding that the serviced apartments Edinburgh has to offer better suit their needs.

Business visitors often have different requirements to tourists, even more so when they work in the creative industries. Many of the people involved in the Edinburgh Festival - or in the city’s theatres, cinemas or art galleries - often work long or irregular hours, particularly in the build up to an important show. This makes it more difficult to find the time to eat in hotels or restaurants, so serviced apartments Edinburgh, which have their own kitchens or kitchenettes, are ideal: guests can cook whatever they want to eat, whenever they want to eat it.

For those working long hours at a festival or other cultural event, Edinburgh serviced apartments also provide a comfortable, spacious environment to relax in once work is over. Furthermore, they provide a space for the impromptu meetings and last minute projects that are so common in the creative industries: guests can invite their colleagues back to their apartment for food and drink and, if they’re unlucky enough to have to work into the early hours, they can at least do so in a comfortable environment.

Serviced apartments Edinburgh also provide guests with the opportunity to savour everything Edinburgh has to offer. Because it is such a compact city, they’re all within easy commuting distance of the city’s major businesses and cultural organisations. Moreover, guests can buy their own food in Edinburgh’s plethora of independent shops or in supermarkets and cook it at home, allowing them to feel like they really live in the city. Alternatively, they can eat in the city’s numerous restaurants as and when they please.