Professional Documents
Culture Documents
INTRODUCTION
This article reviews the current state of the UK conference and meetings market
by looking at the latest industry research. It also highlights the importance of
these types of events for both businesses and nations and indicates the concerns
of organisers.
The media are often keen to portray live conferences and event attendance as a
‘jolly’. However, the value of face-to-face communications and live events
continues to be underscored by research and by the evaluations provided by ROI
methodologies.
The ‘British Meetings and Events Industry Survey’ (published in October 2009)
illustrates that delegates believe work-orientated factors contribute to a
successful and worthwhile event. Delegates value:
Whilst the survey suggests that business leaders are expanding the use of virtual
meeting technologies:
There are several annual studies providing volume and value, trends and
projections data on the domestic conference market.
This includes the ‘UK Events Market Trends Survey’ (UKEMTS), compiled and
published by the trade body Eventia with research analysis provided by TEAM
associate Richard Smith. It provides a vital insight into the current state of the
industry from a supply-side or venue perspective. The 2009 Survey, published in
July 2009, is based on data supplied by a record number of 512 reporting venues
from across the UK (compared with 446 in 2008) representing almost 15% of the
UK’s conference venue universe.
The UKEMTS 2009 shows that the UK events market experienced a slight
downturn in the period 2006-8 (in terms of direct revenue to venues) with an
estimated value of £7.2 billion, compared with £8 billion in the 3-year period
2005-7. This is due mainly to a fall in the average number of events per venue
(375 in 2006-8 compared with 396 in 2005-7) and to fewer residential events.
This latter fact has had a significant economic impact as residential events and
conferences account for almost 60% of overall venue income from events.
• The periodical reduction in day conference and events business has begun
to slow and may be in the infant stages of recovery (reported by just over
50% of respondents).
• Some optimism can be drawn from the fact that, while decreases in
residential conference rates did not improve, they did remain consistent
with Summer and Spring 2009 figures, which perhaps indicates that they
will not decline further.
• Venues are reducing prices and achieving rates below the traditional
average, although 75% of corporate buyers state that prices have
remained the same or even increased.
• The rate of decline in delegate numbers is slowing.
• 87% of respondents confirmed that lead times were still shortening and
now average between 2-8 weeks.
When considering the approach to recovery and what the greatest challenges
will be, respondents overwhelmingly felt that increasing yield, achieving value
for money for clients and controlling cash flow were the biggest challenges to
overcome.
The ‘UK Events Market Trends Survey’ shows that, for most venues, the majority
(over two-thirds) of business comes from the region in which they are located,
with just over a quarter coming from other parts of the UK, and 3% from
overseas (see Figure 1).
Figure 1:
1. London
2. Birmingham
3. Manchester
4. Edinburgh
5. Leeds
6. Glasgow
7. Cardiff
8. NewcastleGateshead
9. Nottingham
10.Coventry
City-centre hotels remain the most popular type of venue for organisers taking
part in the ‘BMEIS’, followed by (in order) ‘luxury’ venues, purpose-built
convention centres, multi-purpose venues, and out-of-town hotels.
Factors influencing venue selection remain relatively constant, with location
being paramount, followed by price/value for money, access (road, rail links),
quality of service, and quality of conference facilities.
The BDRC findings show who has booked the event or meeting: agents,
corporates or associations. Agents comprise a variety of intermediary
organisations, such as venue finding agencies, event management companies
and professional conference organisers.
Birmingham 10 8 4
Manchester 5 6 4
South Coast of 5 5 3
England
Leeds 4 5 2
NewcastleGateshe 2 3 5
ad
Edinburgh 2 2 4
Cardiff 4 2 2
Glasgow 2 1 3
Liverpool 2 1 3
Elsewhere in the 20 29 44
UK
It can be reasonably argued that such issues and concerns for the buyer can, in
many cases, offer marketing opportunities to suppliers, be they destinations,
venues or other suppliers. Venues that price competitively and also offer added
value have a chance to attract new business.
CONCLUSION
While there is no doubt about the challenges facing the conference, meetings
and live events industry, there is also confidence in the sector’s resilience and in
its ability to reinvent itself.
REFERENCE SOURCES
1. ‘UK Events Market Trends Survey 2009’, priced at £175, may be ordered
from Eventia (email: sarah.malkin@eventia.org.uk or visit:
www.eventia.org.uk).
2. ‘British Meetings and Events Industry Survey 2009’, priced at £175 (or
£150 for PDF version), CAT Publications (visit www.meetpie.com/bmeis)
3. ‘BDRC UK Meetings Market Survey 2009’ – visit www.bdrc.co.uk or call
(tel) 020 7400 1000
4. Meetings Industry Association credit crunch conference and events market
research – free to members, £99 + VAT to non-members. Visit www.mia-
org.uk or call (tel) 0845 230 5508
5. For Harvard Business Review visit: www.hbr.org or call: 001 212 872 9283
TONY ROGERS