Birmingham still a top destination for conferences and conventions

Jul 2 2010 By Graeme Brown

A string of prestigious conferences have helped Birmingham’s hospitality sector to outperforming rivals in other cities across Europe, according to two new reports.

The STEAM report, compiled by research group Global Tourism Solutions, revealed that visitors coming to the city rose to 32.6 million in 2009, up by 400,000 compared to the year before, on the back of visitors lengthening their stays.

And another report has shown Birmingham’s hotel industry recorded the largest increase of any European city in occupancy and room rates last month.

Experts say the region has been boosted by tens of thousands of visitors for the Conservative and Liberal Democrat conferences and the Rotary International Convention.

However, despite the increase, which includes a two per cent rise in the length of the average stay, the total revenue from visitors dropped by four per cent as budget-conscious consumers curtailed their spending.

Marketing Birmingham’s chairman Paul Kehoe said: “The figures are encouraging for the city’s visitor economy which has experienced a robust performance regarding primary expenditure benefiting from a rise in visitors who are also staying longer.

“However, the tourism industry is operating in a climate where there is less money in people’s pockets and that has certainly impacted upon secondary spend, not just in Birmingham, but nationally.”

Despite an overall fall in hospitality spending, the visitor economy has benefited from an increase in expenditure in the accommodation sector.

The STEAM research showed £168 million was spent on accommodation in the city in 2009, compared to £156 million in 2008.

Within this, non-serviced accommodation experienced an 11 per cent increase in the volume of guests while there was a one per cent rise in the serviced accommodation sector.

Hotel occupancy in Birmingham saw a boost recently with occupancy in May the highest since the start of the year at 72 per cent.

This can be largely attributed to Ipex – an international exhibition for the print, publishing and media industries, which attracted more than 50,000 visitors.

According to research from STR Global, occupancy in the city increased by 19 per cent in the month and the average daily rate increased by more than 38 per cent, to £74.25.

Michael Mason, general manager of Crowne Plaza Hotel Birmingham, said the Conservative Party Conference, which takes place at the ICC in October, would provide a further boost.

The research comes amid a renewed vigour from the Government to acknowledge the importance of tourism to the UK economy.

John Penrose, the MP to take up the newly-created role Minister for Tourism, will be travelling the UK to audit the industry and look at ways to increase tourism spend by UK residents in the UK from 36 per cent to 50 per cent. Nationally, the industry is the fifth largest, worth £115 billion annually in direct and indirect spend.

Tim Manson, policy and operations director for Marketing Birmingham, said: “Our policy is to focus on encouraging overnight leisure stays rather than day trippers, as well as what is called in the industry ‘business extenders’, those who come on business but extend their stay with family often joining them.

“I’m glad to see that the figures show we are moving in the right direction.’’

HOSPITALITY SPENDING IN BIRMINGHAM
 * £116 million has been brought into Birmingham’s economy through conferences and events in the past three years.
 * 29,000 bed spaces are available in hotels across Birmingham. There are four more hotels in the pipeline during 2010-11 and a total of 22 at planning or pre-construction stages.
 * 13,500 people are expected to attend the Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham in October.
 * £6 million of Birmingham City Council funds have been allocated to make the city a regular venue for conferences.
 * 156 different nationalities were among the 20,000 people to travel to the region for last year’s Rotary International Convention at the NEC.
 * £53.40 was the revenue per available room in Birmingham in May. That compares to a UK average of £47.73.