Tag: Bristol

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Conference Ambassador Programme launched by Meet Bristol

Bristol’s Convention Bureau, Meet Bristol, has launched a Conference Ambassador Programme to promote the city as a business event destination.

By establishing greater collaboration between Meet Bristol, local industry experts and event suppliers, the Conference Ambassador Programme will serve to create competitive bids for international business events in the city and surrounding areas.

Bristol has a wealth of expertise and research relevant to academic associations which the new initiative aims to highlight. The Conference Ambassador Programme will focus on the city’s identified economic strengths in a wide range of sectors – from Aerospace, Advanced Engineering and High Tech, to Digital and Creative, Low Carbon and Professional Services – in order to attract relevant business events.

Working with ambassadors and tapping into their expertise and knowledge will result in producing more appealing, bespoke options for conferences, as well as enhancing the visitor experience and creating PR opportunities for both the destination and ambassador.

Amy Bramhall, Meet Bristol Convention Bureau manager says: “Collaboration with industry experts is key to the success of securing future business events that benefit the economy in the South West region. We’re looking forward to developing further relationships with local partners to create an enhanced offer and increase the number of conferences and events hosted in Bristol and the surrounding areas.”

The introduction of the programme follows what has been a hugely successful time for Meet Bristol, after the team won Best UK Convention Bureau at the Conference Hospitality Awards in Leeds in June.

Current events that Meet Bristol is working on include the Royal College of Obstetrics and Gynaecologists Trainees Conference, the Anthropology and Technology Conference and the UKinbound Annual Convention.

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Meet Bristol launches new incentive travel campaign

Meet Bristol has launched a new incentive travel digital campaign aiming to bring new business to the city.

Ranging from lemur feeding and cemetery tours to chocolate workshops and futuristic farming, the city’s convention bureau has added more than 100 incentive experiences to its website.

The campaign comes after the bureau observed an increased demand for second tier destinations to present bookable experiences with a creative flair for the incentive travel market, reflecting the destination’s passion and style.

Kathryn Davis, head of tourism at Destination Bristol, said: “Bristol is open for business and the region continues to develop its offer to the corporate and association markets. This campaign focusses on the more unusual opportunities for incentive travel, including many unique to Bristol. By providing a wide range of experiences, event organisers can select those of interest and combine them with meetings to develop exciting and innovating programmes.”

The Bristol incentives website invites visitors to discover a range of Bristol-bred activities, with experiences divided into eight categories.

Uniquely Bristol includes hard-hat tours of the hidden vaults at the Clifton Suspension Bridge, behind-the-scenes theatre tours at Bristol Old Vic and a peek at the University of Bristol’s ornate 18th century gardens at Goldney Hall.

The other seven categories are Food and Drink, Creative Experiences, Luxury Experiences, Culture, Outdoors, Accommodation Experiences and Beyond Bristol.

These offer the chance to explore a host of venues across the city and wider region, including The New Room, the oldest Methodist building in the world; Brunel’s SS Great Britain, the world’s first luxury cruise liner dating back to 1843; and sailing on The Matthew, a replica of the 15th century ship that John Cabot sailed from Bristol to discover North America.

Other incentive experiences available include the opportunity to spend the night in an ‘industrial designer apartment’ or in a rooftop retro caravan; stay in a floating hostel, sleep in the UK’s largest four-poster bed or ‘get close to the animals’ at Wild Place Project’s Camp Baboon.

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Fattal Hotel Group announces Bristol hotel

The Fattal Hotel Group, the owner of the Jurys Inn and Leonardo hotel brands, has announced that it has signed a lease agreement to open a new property in Bristol.
The 200-bedroom hotel will be part of the Glassfields development close to Bristol’s business district. It will mark the Jurys Inn and Leonardo group’s debut in Bristol.

The hotel will be managed by Jurys Inn and Leonardo Hotels UK and Ireland, but branding of the hotel has not yet been confirmed. The site will include a restaurant and bar and meeting facilities and is expected to be complete in the fourth quarter of 2020.

Fattal Hotel Group has made a number of UK acquisitions in recent months. These include Southampton’s Grand Harbour Hotel, and the Midland Hotel on Manchester’s Adair Street. The company is also investing £32 million in the redevelopment of the existing Jurys Inn Edinburgh, along with its adjacent site, which will convert a listed building into a new 131-room Nyx Hotel.

The group also announced it has acquired the leases for four Grange Hotels properties in central London. All four will be rebranded under the Jurys Inn and Leonardo and Nyx portfolios.
Jason Carruthers, managing director of Jurys Inn and Leonardo Hotels UK & Ireland, said: “This is a truly exciting time as we expand our offering in the UK with this key site in a major city like Bristol.

“2018 was another year of substantial growth for Jurys Inn and Leonardo Hotels UK & Ireland, and we have ambitious plans to continue this in 2019 across the group as we offer an exceptional experience, in fantastic city centre locations across the UK.

“We continue to look to grow and strengthen the Leonardo brand and hotel network and will pursue further appropriate and commercially attractive new potential development and acquisition opportunities as they arise.”