Business tourism worth £822m to Manchester

BUSINESS tourism – conferences, seminars and other corporate events – generated £822m for the Greater Manchester economy, according to research published by tourist board Visit Manchester.

The Conference Value & Volume 2012 report also shows that nearly 22,000 jobs – 11,800  in the city centre – are sustained by the conferencing sector.

The £822m is 43% increase on the £573m reported in the most recent comparative study in 2009.

The report shows that Greater Manchester welcomed 5.2 million delegates to its venues in 2011, representing an increase of 23% on 2009’s 4.2 million delegate figure.

As well as attracting more visitors, they stayed longer too, with 8.2 million delegate days in 2011. up 19% on 2009 when 6.9 million delegate days were recorded.

The study also reports that 21,800 full time jobs were supported by the business tourism sector throughout Greater Manchester.

According to the study corporate business events account for 59% of all business events in the region, followed by government / public sector events (28%), national association conferences (11%) and international association conferences (3%).

Paul Simpson, managing director of Visit Manchester, said: “We are thrilled with the results of this study, which shows just how big a contribution the conference and business tourism sector makes to the local economy – in terms of both economic value and job creation.

“There have been major developments in Greater Manchester’s conference product over recent years, in terms of developing the infrastructure and support services that organisers expect of a world class conference destination and increasing the region’s conference venue supply.”

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