Getting the price right for business tourism boost
Price and delivering value for money are major factors behind Leeds’ current success as a conferencing city.
However, to move forward it needs to attract more blue-chip, top 1,000 companies, a leading member of the hospitality sector told a TheBusinessDesk.com’s roundtable sponsored by Conference Leeds and held at Gilbanks.
Wayne Topley, who chairs the 32-member Leeds Hotels and Venues Association, and who also runs The Queens hotel, said the position Leeds found itself at the moment was “great”. And he said that much of the growth was on the back of government and public sector business, which he hailed as positive. He added that the city needed to attract blue chip firms now to further boost the sector.
Leeds was ranked as the fourth most popular conferencing city in the UK in a recent British Meetings and Events Industry survey (BMEIS). The average number of delegates in attendance at events has increased significantly, reaching 368 – up from 238 in 2017.
And business visitors are playing a growing part in a tourism industry which contributed £212.7m to the local economy in 2017.
Megan MacBrairdy, venue manager at digitally led conference centre Horizon Leeds, urged businesses to “be brave” and stay strong when it came to pricing. She said: “If you truly believe you have got the best product people will pay it.”
She said the healthcare sector was only going to get bigger in Leeds. She added: “A lot of our business is regional which is fantastic; it’s our bread and butter. To make a difference we need to be able to get that London business too.”
Wayne Topley
Topley said the city should not be embarrassed about being cheaper than other cities in the UK, when it comes to industry benchmark figures. And he added that Leeds had great opportunities for commercial growth, driven by new opportunities, including the arrival of Channel Four.
He added that Brexit uncertainty was having some impact on the business tourism sector, with companies reluctant to commit money to conferences with so much unknown about the outcome.
Laura Freer, group sales manager at rail operator LNER, whose background is in the conferencing sector in Yorkshire, believes “fear and panic” to get business has played its part in keeping delegate day rates down in the region.
She told the roundtable, sponsored by Conference Leeds and hosted by Gilbanks in the city: “York had an average day delegate rate well below the national average, yet it has an amazing product as a city.”
And Freer added: “It takes certain hotels and venues to be bold and to say ‘we deserve to get a better rate’.”
Claire Steven, general manager of Oulton Hall hotel on the outskirts of Leeds, said in her belief the sector was sometimes too short-term in its outlook. If it took a longer-term view it could be “more bullish”, she added.
