UK conference and business events worth £18.8 billion

In a recent report from Eventia, the voice of the UK events industry, the value of business events and conferences to the UK economy has been estimated at a massive £18.8 billion.

Eventia – which was created in 2006 through the merger of the Corporate Events Association (CEA) and the Incentive Travel & Meetings Association (ITMA) and strengthened by the inclusion of the British Association of Conference Destinations (BACD) in 2009 – published the findings in its recent UK Events Market Trends Survey (UKEMTS). The annual UKEMTS survey is supported by major events industry organisations including Confex Group, CAT Publications, VisitBritain, Conference Centres of Excellence and MeetEngland.

This is the first time ever that UKEMTS has estimated the overall value of the conference and business events market – including spend at venues and in the wider destination by delegates and organisers – rather than simply the revenue to event venues. The report, which is based on data supplied by a representative sample of 403 venues from across the country, confirms the importance and scope of the events sector to the UK economy.

Other key estimates in the report include:

• There were 94 million attendances at events in 2009

• 1.32 million events took place, with an average attendance of 71 people

• The average number events per venue was 379 in 2009, down slightly on 2008’s figure of 391

• Hotels hosted 61% of all business events

• 36% of events are booked only two to eight weeks in advance

• The average duration of events in 2009 was 1.6 days, which is similar to previous years

Venues were reported to be more optimistic about business prospects than a year ago, with 65% of respondents planning to invest in their property this year and 9% spending in excess of £1 million.

Commented Izania Downie, Eventia CEO, “UKEMTS is a crucial barometer of what’s happening in the events sector and should be required reading for anyone who needs an informed view of the trends and changes in our sector. Eventia has now been able to provide a robust estimate for the value of our sector, something the industry has long needed. We shall be using this figure and the other market intelligence revealed in this survey for education, marketing and advocacy purposes.”

Tags: CAT Publications, Conference Centres of Excellence, Conferences, Confex, Eventia, events, Meet England, UK Events, UKEMTS, Visit Britain

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 14th, 2010 at 10:23 am and is filed under Industry News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.