Author: Suzi Johnson

Posted on

GlobalData research find Brexit not deterring UK outbound travellers

Despite the uncertainty surrounding Brexit, a new report by GlobalData, a data and analytics company, has revealed UK departures to Europe are set to grow 2.88 per cent in 2019.

In 2018, 55.9 million UK residents travelled to European destinations. However, GlobalData expects this number to increase to 64.4 million in 2019.

The report, “Tourism Source Market Insight: United Kingdom” also identified that Spain and Eastern European nations will continue to see growth as travellers seek sunshine and city breaks with a smaller price tag.

Laura Beaton, travel and tourism analyst at GlobalData, said: “Of course Brexit has impacted the UK’s outbound tourism industry but the reality is not likely to be as bad as we might have been led to believe, at least in terms of visitor numbers.”

The UK’s longstanding relationship with Spain is not set to be affected by a Brexit deal or no-deal either. In 2017 the then Spanish deputy minister for European affairs, Jorge Toledo, stated that Spain would have a backup plan to shield the country’s tourism industry from Brexit consequences.


GlobalData graph showing an increase in UK outbound travellers.

“Tourism from the UK is an important part of many European countries’ economies and Spain, France, and Italy are going to remain the top destinations for UK travellers for the foreseeable future so it is important that ties are not severed,” added Beaton.

The report also identified destinations such as Hungary, Czech Republic and Romania as places UK travellers would be increasingly travelling to in the future. This is partly because their currencies currently remain weaker than the pound and untapped natural beauty, history and culture is also enticing travellers to visit these countries.

“The depreciation of the pound has had a big impact on expenditure, however, and travellers have had to spend more to match the same experiences they had a few years ago. As a result, cheaper locations are highly sought after by UK travellers.”

“Western Europe is only truly becoming aware of the other offerings of Eastern Europe and this helps to explain how each country has rapidly grown its UK visitor numbers in recent years,” said Beaton.

“Vilnius in Lithuania is a UNESCO World Heritage site and Budapest has many buildings that have won European Heritage Awards so Eastern Europe has plenty to entice travellers away from the traditional city breaks of Paris and Rome.”

Posted on

Italy sees International events on the rise with 8.1 per cent increase in 2018

Italy has seen a jump in the number of international events, which have a significant proportion of overseas participants, increase from 7.9 per cent in 2017 to 8.1 per cent in 2018.

Most conferences and events (59.5 per cent) are local in dimension – with participants (excluding speakers) mainly coming from the same region as the host venue.

Overall, conferences and events held in Italy increased by 5.8 per cent in 2018, with participant figures slightly down (-2.4 per cent).

The decrease in growth figures was due to a fall in conferences promoted by international associations.

As a result, the recommendation was that Italy needs to undertake more promotional activities to combat competition from other destinations.

“Internationalisation, planning and quality are the three elements Italy needs to compete and get out of the impasse we have observed in the associations markets,” said Alessandra Albarelli, president of Federcongressi&eventi.

“Internationalisation means strengthening Convention Bureau Italia’s role in promoting the country as a MICE destination, in partnership with national tourist board ENIT; planning consists of implementing, together with all the institutions, particularly the Ministry of Agricultural, Food and Forestry Policies and Tourism, long-term, targeted strategic activities for the sector.”

The latest results are from the Italian Survey of Conferences and Events, the research project by Italy’s meeting industry association Federcongressi&eventi.

Professor Roberto Nelli, who headed up the survey made some recommendations: “A first attempt at mapping events and conferences hosted in Italy shows that, given the current situation in which most events are hosted in places that can be described as part of Italy’s ‘Great Beauty’, it is possible to identify meeting industry development strategies that leverage the strengths of certain regions: for example, those with vast potential in their cultural and natural heritage that has not been fully exploited.”

Hotels and conference centres were the best performers. Conference hotels play host to most events: 80.6 per cent of the total, +6.9 per cent versus 2017. Conference centres also performed well, accounting for 3.2 per cent of total events (+3.9 per cent) but also registering the highest average number of events per venue: 156.3.

Posted on

UK’s hospitality sector to take part in Climate Action Week

The London Convention Bureau is bringing together senior leaders from the UK’s hospitality sector to sign up to commitments in line with the Mayor’s London Environment Strategy for Climate Action Week.

These include achieving 75 per cent recycling by 2025, reducing food waste by 20 per cent by 2025 and a move towards a net zero London economy by 2050.

London Climate Action Week was launched by Sadiq Khan, part of the London Mayor’s drive to make the UK capital a leader in tackling the global climate emergency.

Tracy Halliwell, head of business tourism and events at the London Convention Bureau said: “London Climate Action Week offers a perfect opportunity for the city’s hospitality tourism sector to lead the way in putting forward solutions to make the global industry more sustainable.

“We’re delighted that some of the world’s biggest hospitality organisations have joined us in making a commitment to the Mayor’s sustainable goals and we hope that others will support this important challenge for our sector.

“With over a hundred events taking place across the city and delegates visiting from all over the world, climate action week also offers further proof that London is fantastic place to host a meeting or event.”

Jeremy Rees, CEO, ExCeL London: “At ExCeL London, we are committed to reducing our environmental impact, whilst supporting our customers to deliver more sustainable events. Earlier this year, we launched our ‘No Plastic’ campaign, to outline our commitment to reduce the amount of plastic in our venue.

“We are hugely supportive of London Climate Action Week and hope that it encourages everyone to think about the difference we can all make to protect the future of our planet.”

Around 150 events are taking place this this week to mark, highlighting climate change solutions and sustainability. This is in support of the first-ever Climate Action Week, which brings delegates to London including scientists, business leaders, school children and politicians.

Some events taking place during the week include:

  • The City of London will host a Green Finance Summit on 2 July with 900 businesses discussing ways to expand London’s thriving green finance sector.
  • A Green Schools Summit at the University College London on 2 July will bring together 200 London school children with academics, climate scientists and politicians to discuss the climate crisis
  • The Economist Climate Risk Summit: The Economist will convene the inaugural Climate Risk Summit on 2nd July 2019 will bring together policymakers, business leaders, scientists and investors to begin a conversation about how organisations around the world can understand and manage climate-related risks.
  • The Natural History Museum will host two events at their Attenborough Studios on 6th and 7th July which will see two documentary films showcasing the results of climate change from two different perspectives, followed by insights from Museum scientist, Ken Johnson.
Posted on

Office workers dread all-day meetings, according to new study

A new study commissioned by Drayton Manor Park has found that out of 1,000 surveyed office workers, half of them dread-all day meetings.

The survey also identified that 59 per cent of respondents would rather concentrate on their work than have to attend a training session. A further 44 per cent attributed this feeling of dread with knowing that the meeting format would be the same as the last one they attended.

Other factors included too much being crammed into an agenda and the meeting not starting on time.

As a result of this dread of meetings, half of the survey respondents admitted to zoning out, while 12 per cent confirmed they had fallen asleep during meetings and 10 per cent said they had secretly listened to music during meetings.

“Our survey results show that businesses need to seriously think about the way it delivers meetings and training sessions. In a time where businesses are scrutinising all budgets, delivering effective meetings which people look forward to can ensure that no time is wasted when lots of talent is taken out of the office and invited to an all-day session,” said Melissa Penn, Drayton Manor Park conference and events manager.

An unsurprising result from the survey is that 82 per cent of meeting attendees agreed that productivity slumped after lunch, with only 22 per cent saying they joined in energising team activities, designed to help delegates break out of the post-lunch slump.

“It is clear that enthusiasm and motivation for meetings is flat at the moment and a change in format is required.

“We hope that our report will encourage event organisers to shake up their current meeting schedule and consider new methods to help re-energise attendees for the whole session,” Penn added.

One positive that was taken from the study if that 71 per cent of respondents said that would more receptive to all-day meetings if they were held off-site.

Posted on

UKCAMS reveals Conference industry now worth £20bn

New research into the UK’s conference and meetings sector, the ‘UK Conference and Meeting Survey 2019’ (UKCAMS), reveals a robust and buoyant industry. There was an estimated £20bn of direct expenditure generated by conference and meeting delegates in venues and in wider destination spend in 2018, up from £18.1bn in 2017. At the same time, the overall number of conferences and meetings held in 2018 was the highest in recent years – an average of 428 conferences and meetings per venue compared with 373 in 2017 and 419 in 2016.

These positive UKCAMS 2019 results show the industry flourishing. The research findings also reveal that the overall number of conferences and meetings in 2018 was an estimated 1.48m compared with the 2017 figure of 1.29m (and 1.45m in 2016). While most events (66%) comprised 50 delegates or fewer, with just 6% of events having more than 200 delegates, the average event size was 72 delegates, the same as for 2017.

Levels of capital investment by venues remained strong with 73% of venues reporting that they had invested in their property in 2018, with 17% investing over £500,000.

The ‘UK Conference and Meeting Survey’, now in its 26th consecutive year, has a specific focus on the value and volume of the market and the performance of meeting venues. It also highlights key market trends identified by venues. The results provide a definitive insight into the conference and meetings sector and are widely used to inform investment, advocacy and marketing activities.

Other key findings from the research include:

  • In 2018, there were an estimated 95.3m delegates accounting for approximately 152.8m delegate days.
  • The average duration of conferences and meetings was 1.6 days (unchanged from previous years), although almost two-thirds of events lasted only one day or less
  • Conference and training centres (640 events) and hotels (453 events) hosted higher than average numbers of events
  • Just over a third (35%) of conferences and meetings in 2018 were organised by a professional conference organiser (PCO) or event management agency

While the majority of UK venues are focused on the domestic meetings market, some 10% of venues are proactive in seeking to attract international conferences, which account for 11% or more of their business. Venues tended to target international conferences through trade shows and familiarisation visits.

Kerrin MacPhie, VisitBritain’s head of business events, commented: “The ‘UK Conference and Meeting Survey 2019’ provides UK destinations and venues with valuable insights into the sector’s scale and latest trends, helping to inform their business planning and marketing activity.

“The UK is home to many world-renowned venues that consistently host leading international events. Their success not only needs to be recorded but also celebrated. VisitBritain recognises the importance of the ICCA ranking as a key tool in achieving this. The UKCAMS research results show us that more can be done by UK venues to record ICCA activity and we strongly encourage them to consistently log their international ICCA events. Doing so recognises and celebrates their world-class credentials, reinforcing the UK’s position as a leading business events destination.”

Copies of the full UKCAMS 2019 report are available priced £180 + VAT. Click here to download the form.

Posted on

Global meetings and events industry set to converge at The Meetings Show

Meeting and event professionals from around the world will be coming together this week for two days of inspiration, education and networking at The Meetings Show, which is preparing for its biggest show to date.

Taking place on Wednesday 26 and Thursday 27 June at Olympia London, The Meetings Show will bring together more than 4,500 industry professionals, including over 700 exhibitors and more than 900 hosted buyers already signed up.

Following the hugely successful launch of a new two-day format in 2018, this year the show has seen significant growth in mid to long-haul destinations exhibiting, its education programme has been revamped with exciting new formats for sessions, and for the first time the show is offering dedicated initiatives to support young and up-and-coming talent in the industry.

To help you plan your visit, here are some of the highlights of The Meetings Show 2019.

Pre-Show Conference

Focus on this year being a sell out. A sell-out success in 2018, the Pre-Show Conference returns on Tuesday 25 June to offer exclusive educational opportunities to attendees of the three-day Hosted Buyer programme. Held this year at the Olympia Conference Centre, the conference will be opened with a keynote from one of the UK’s leading economists, Gerard Lyons, then followed with dedicated streams for agency, corporate and association buyers.

Hosted Buyer Welcome Reception

Hosted buyers will be getting into the swing of networking at the Tuesday evening Hosted Buyer Welcome Reception, taking place at hi-tech mini-golf venue Puttshack. Attendees will be able to vie for their place on the leaderboard for the night, while catching up with industry friends old and new ahead of the main show opening on Wednesday 26.

Inspiring exhibitors

With more than 700 hotels, venues, destinations and suppliers to the industry in attendance, visitors will be able to find all the inspiration they need for planning their next event. Walking the show floor, you’ll notice an increased international presence – 18% greater year-on-year – thanks to a whole host of new exhibitors, as well as many familiar faces from last year returning with bigger and better displays. You can see the full list of exhibitors here.

Engaging education

This year The Meetings Show is shaking up its education programme with sessions including expertise from outside of the industry and insight shared in a variety of unusual formats, including a courtroom trial, a dramatic performance and a live teambuilding pitch exercise. The Technology Tour will offer speed meetings with innovative suppliers and campfire sessions will provide the chance to participate in small-group discussions to get to the bottom of any burning issues.

Tomorrow’s Talent

The Meetings Show is celebrating and championing the rising stars of the industry with its Tomorrow’s Talent initiative. Launched in December 2018, Tomorrow’s Talent has sought out the 10 brightest under 30s from event agencies, associations, venues and suppliers to the industry to offer a platform for furthering their careers. The 10 winners will be in attendance at the show, and meeting with fellow event professionals at the MPI Foundation Cocktails for Charity event at 5pm on Wednesday 26.

The Future of Meetings

Once again, The Meetings Show in partnership with the Meeting Design Institute has selected the five most promising start-ups in the meetings technology sector to be shortlisted for The Future of Meetings Award. All five nominees will be exhibiting on the MDI stand and the winner will be announced on Wednesday 26 at 16:30.

The Meetings Show takes place on Wednesday 26 and Thursday 27 June at Olympia London. For more information and to register as a visitor, visit www.themeetingsshow.com/register. Join in the conversation and find out who else is attending by using the hashtag #MeetYouAtTheShow.

Posted on

VisitScotland launches Legends Legacy Network

VisitScotland Business Events has launched Scotland’s “Legends Legacy Network” – an evolution of its award-winning Legends marketing campaign.

The initiative was announced at a dinner hosted by The National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh and Heritage Portfolio, attended by 15 organisations across Scotland.

The Legends Legacy Network will bring together Scotland’s innovation centres, industry representative organisations and research hubs. It will utilise Scotland’s business events to enhance the country’s inward investment, inclusive growth and global profiling ambitions.

The evening welcomed a variety of sectors including technology, data science, creative, food & drink, marine, publishing, sensors & imaging and life sciences. These groups are represented by internationally renowned institutions such as The Data Lab, The Scottish Association for Marine Science, The Roslin Institute, Creative Scotland and many more.

Focus was on the importance of legacy and collaboration, both nationally and internationally, and how the country can connect with international businesses through business events. It aimed to promote Scotland as “a place where new #ideasbecomelegend.”

Rory Archibald, Associations and Sectors at VisitScotland Business Events said: “Legacy is much more than a fun run or a one-off public event as part of a conference programme.

“It is key to work closely with Scottish expertise, so that event organisers and delegates can see Scotland as a destination with world-class knowledge, which can create lasting partnerships, secure mutually beneficially investment and help discover the next idea that will become legend, the next idea that can change the world.

The Legends Legacy Network will continue to push and develop on the outstanding work that has already been achieved through the Legends campaign and continue to show that Business Events are a critical tool for economic and social progress.

Posted on

EDGE Venues creates new role to support growing demand after just six months

EDGE Venues launched in December 2018 as the ‘go to’ global venue sourcing platform for agents, corporates and associations.

Since its launch, EDGE has seen considerable growth with higher than expected levels of venue licensees signing up, and agents/corporates registering to use the platform. The positive market reaction has led to the creation of a new role and the appointment of Tracy Winsworth to the new post of Commercial Director.

Tracy Winsworth

Tracy has worked at Trinity Event Solutions – the event specialists which built EDGE Venues – for over more than nine years. She joined as finance manager, before being promoted to director of finance and subsequently commercial director. Tracy will continue in her role at Trinity, while taking responsibility for EDGE Venues commercial strategy.

Tracy shares her excitement at this new opportunity: “EDGE Venues has been on an amazing journey in the last six months and I’m really excited for its future. We want EDGE to be the ‘go to’ platform for corporates and agents to source venues, and for venues which want to achieve growth in the corporate market. And we will take the platform to new heights by working closely with all of them on the technology, sourcing and commercial approaches.”

Jacqui Kavanagh, Managing Director for EDGE Venues explains the importance of this appointment: “Within six months we’ve raised the brand profile of EDGE – built by the industry for the industry – to the point where we need Tracy’s commercial expertise for further growth. The relationships she’s built with Trinity’s suppliers over the last decade have been key to the launch of EDGE, and I’m looking forward to working with her to strengthen this fantastic solution for the meetings and events industry.”

Following Tracy’s appointment, further re-structure within the team will ensure that growing demand is met as new licensees come on board and subscriber numbers increase. The newly formed team will be at The Meetings Show (26th/27th June) on the EDGE Venues stand – D500*.

Contact the EDGE Team to find out more:

+44 (0) 1780 484051

enquiries@edgevenues.com

*Make sure you stop by to say hello – the team would love to show you the exciting developments behind the platform, along with what’s in store for the next six months.

Posted on

Belfast wins bid to host Europe’s largest conference on archaeology

Belfast has been chosen to host Europe’s largest annual gathering of archaeologists, joining Barcelona, Istanbul and Lisbon in a strong international line-up of cities to bring up to 2,500 delegates together in one place, Visit Belfast has confirmed.

The European Association of Archaeology (EAA) will visit the city in August 2022 for this major week-long event, boosting the travel, hospitality and conference economy by £3.8m.

ICC Belfast will host the main four-day conference event, supported by other venues across the city including Queen’s University Belfast, before delegates enjoy three further full days of field trips exploring historical sites throughout the island.

Visit Belfast, Queen’s University Belfast and ICC Belfast, with funding support from Tourism Northern Ireland and Belfast City Council, secured the prestigious conference for the city.

Based in Prague, where it was founded in 1994, the EAA has 2,500 members from over 50 countries of all continents, making it the second largest archaeological association in the world. This year’s conference takes place in Bern, Switzerland, followed by Budapest in Hungary in 2020 and Kiel, Germany, in 2021.

Rachael McGuickin, director of business development at Visit Belfast, said: “We are delighted to work with partners Belfast City Council and Tourism Northern Ireland, Queen’s University and ICC Belfast to secure this major international conference for Belfast and Northern Ireland.

“The EAA Conference will bring an estimated £3.8m to the local economy, contributing to the important role conferences and events play in developing and sustaining Belfast and Northern Ireland’s tourism economy by providing mid-week and year-round business that benefits event venues, hotels, restaurants, transport providers and attractions.

“This was a real Team Belfast effort – the city’s bid was a combination of the world-class research undertaken at Queen’s University’s School of Natural and Built Environment, as well as investment in Belfast’s hotels, venues and tourism product which has increased the destination’s appeal internationally and allows us to compete at the highest level.”Through its Belfast and Northern Ireland Ambassador Programme, Visit Belfast worked with Professor Eileen Murphy, Head of Archaeology and Palaeoecology, which lies within the Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences at Queen’s University, to bid for the conference.

Welcoming the announcement, professor Murphy said: “We are delighted to be welcoming archaeologists from across Europe to our wonderful city and we very much look forward to introducing them to our rich archaeological heritage. The conference organisation team has partners from archaeological and heritage organisations across the island and there is huge excitement in our sector that it is coming to Belfast.

“Archaeology and Palaeoecology at Queen’s University is regularly in the Top 100 in the QS World Rankings and the conference will give us an opportunity to showcase our leading research to colleagues from throughout Europe. This will be the greatest concentration of archaeologists the city will have ever experienced, and we are in no doubt they will have a fantastic time savouring the friendly, vibrant atmosphere of Belfast”.

Much of the conference will take place in ICC Belfast, which, following a £29.5m extension funded by Belfast City Council, Tourism NI and the European Regional Development Fund, has been a key catalyst in Belfast’s development and growing success as a conference destination.

EAA president, Felipe Criado-Boado, said he was looking forward to Belfast hosting its annual event. “EAA is a project that promotes inclusive, collective discourse, communication and professional networking in archaeology and continues to build a strong unified voice for archaeological heritage and research in our culturally and politically diverse Europe, and we are delighted to head to Belfast in 2022 for our annual conference.

“Belfast is a modern city that looks to the future with confidence, as we do in the EAA. By coming to Belfast, we wish to acknowledge the support of our large number of members from the UK and Ireland and endorse their support of the EAA over the past 25 years.”

In 2018-19, Visit Belfast worked with its partners to secure 112 new conference wins for Belfast bringing in over 38,000 delegates and 116,000 hotel bed nights, generating an economic return of around £52 million for the city in future years.

Belfast now ranks 115th in the world for international association conferences and meetings ahead of established international destinations such as the Hague, Abu Dhabi and Dusseldorf.

Posted on

Creating better places to live, meet and thrive in

The Global Destination Sustainability Index’s Whitepaper highlights trends and strategies undertaken by 47 leading cities to become regenerative hubs for economic, social and environmental development.

At the European Cities Marking Conference, the Global Destination Sustainability Index (GDS-Index) released their third Whitepaper that details the case studies, data analysis and the actions taken by 47 Destination Management Organisations (DMOs) and municipalities to become destinations of choice for meetings, events and business tourism.

The whitepaper defines six converging mega trends that present destinations and the Event Industry with opportunities to improve their performance and adapt to the risks presented by climate breakdown, ecocide, demographic shifts, social change and digitalisation.

It highlights four fundamental building blocks for DMOs to become sustainable destination stewards and changemakers and defines eight tactics on how destinations can integrate sustainability into their core strategy and become leaders in future-oriented collaboration.

According to MCI’s CEO Sébastien Tondeur, “Scientific predictions about the rate and effect of human impact on climate and our living planet are increasing in certainty and accuracy. As an industry we need to step up, scale up and speed up our sustainability efforts. Destinations are key to the transformation of our industry, and the GDS-Index is an important catalyst helping them transform.”

Petra Stusek, ECM President, comments that “Destination Management Organisations are evolving into destination stewards and changemakers. They are progressively taking a bigger role in accelerating their city’s sustainable development plan. Through this report the GDS-index is sharing best practice and pieces of wisdom with the ultimate goal of supporting other destinations to focus on sustainable growth.”

Senthil Gopinath, CEO of ICCA, comments: “ICCA is proud to provide strategic support to the GDS-Index and contribute to the ever-growing sustainability of the global meetings industry. Alongside our global community of member-suppliers and international associations, we continuously seek to ensure every aspect of our strategic planning, events and general activities strongly adheres to and promotes best practices in sustainability.”

Carina Bauer, CEO of IMEX Group, mentions that “the economic, social and environmental significance of the Events Industry is massive. We could influence safe and fair working conditions for 26 million jobs, direct $1.5 trillion USD towards more responsible supply chains, and inspire 1.5 billion participants to action. Our industry has a decisive role in the achievement of the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda and its 17 SDGs. The next couple of years represent a serous tipping point for us all – and for the generations to come.”

Guy Bigwood, Managing Director of the GDS-Index adds: “Driven by concerned students, citizens, local governments and corporations a new era of sustainability is rising, and will touch every corner of the events industry. We believe that a better and more restorative global future lies in urban innovation and collaborative action. The GDS-Index plays a key role to engage, inspire and enable destinations to become more sustainable places to visit, meet and thrive in.”

The whitepaper is available for download.