Birmingham marketeers look to secure £1m in tourism through Las Vegas event

BIRMINGHAM has showcased its conference and events offering to a global audience in Las Vegas in a bid to attract more than £1m of business tourism to the city.
 
Representatives of Meet Birmingham, the city’s official business tourism programme, travelled to Nevada for the IMEX America 2013 event in order to highlight the wide variety of venues available in the area to international event organisers.

With more than 200 business tourism partners ranging from academic, sporting, heritage to the unique, Meet Birmingham said the city had a strong business tourism message to take to the world.

This is supported by the availability of more than 36,000 bed spaces for delegates in Birmingham, Solihull and the Black Country.

The agency said it wanted to maintain the city’s position as the top UK events destination outside London.

The region continues to strengthen its leisure profile, with Birmingham’s visitor numbers now at a record high of 33.8m. Its visitor economy received a further boost in September with the award of a coveted Michelin star to Adam’s restaurant – the fourth restaurant in the city to achieve such an honour. The city has also unveiled its new £189m Library of Birmingham; Europe’s largest public library.

Ian Taylor, Commercial Director for Marketing Birmingham, said a targeted presence at IMEX America for the second successive year provided an excellent opportunity for the city to generate new international leads in the events sector, as well as build on the contacts made last year.

“We estimate that our attendance at IMEX America could secure more than £1m of new business into the region,” he said.
 
“Since its opening, the new Library of Birmingham has attracted global attention and provides event organisers with a greater variety of unique spaces in the region, ensuring that we remain an attractive choice for meetings and conferences.
 
“The £65m runway extension at Birmingham Airport and our central location means that we are not only a key UK destination in the events sector, but also offer our international visitors a gateway to popular local attractions within Greater Birmingham and the Black Country.”
 
IMEX America 2013 is one of the world’s largest business tourism exhibitions; last year 2,400 event buyers met with nearly 2,500 exhibitors from 148 countries.