Meet Birmingham targets conference sector with secret weapon, the Vox
BIRMINGHAM’S comprehensive conferencing facilities – including its latest venue, the Vox – are being showcased to a national audience in London.
Meet Birmingham, the city’s official business tourism programme, is targeting the conference and convention sector by highlighting the area’s unsurpassed event facilities.
As part of the exhibition, it is offering visitors to The Meetings Show at London’s Olympia a glimpse into the region’s conferencing future by teaming up with the area’s newest venue, The Vox (below).
The Vox Conference Centre opens next year as part of the new £150m integrated leisure complex Resorts World Birmingham. The venue forms part of Meet Birmingham’s ‘15 in 15’ listing – the 15 must-see attractions in Birmingham’s 2015 events calendar.
This includes the completion of the £600m redevelopment of New Street station and the £26m refurbishment of live entertainment venue the National Indoor Arena.
The Meetings Show is a major event for the UK inbound and outbound meetings industry, featuring more than 460 individual exhibitors, which range from destinations and venues to technology and meetings services.
At the exhibition’s debut in 2013, Meet Birmingham generated event leads, which could secure more than 5,000-bed nights for the city, with a predicted economic impact of more than £1m.
Ian Taylor, Commercial Director of Marketing Birmingham, which operates Meet Birmingham, said: “A clear presence at exhibitions such as The Meetings Show is crucial. With a 25% increase in pre-scheduled appointments at this year’s exhibition compared to 2013, it demonstrates that more industry professionals than ever are keen to find out about Birmingham’s reputation as a dynamic, confident and welcoming events destination.
“These are exciting times for the city’s business tourism sector. With a number of significant developments nearing completion – including Resorts World Birmingham and New Street station – we are providing even more convincing reasons why organisers should locate their next event in Birmingham.”
Meet Birmingham will also be joined at The Meetings Show by representatives from the ICC, which welcomes over 300,000 national and international delegates to around 400 events every year. This autumn, the venue will host its fourth Conservative Party Conference since 2008.
Birmingham and the wider region has a proven track record in hosting events of all sizes, largely due to its excellent facilities and the addition of more than 36,000 bed spaces and a rich variety of venues.
Its geographical position at the heart of the country means that over 90% of the UK market is within four hours’ reach of the city.
Birmingham maintained its status as the most popular UK regional events destination in the British Meetings & Events Industry Survey 2013/14 and has also recently been recognised for its Quality of Life (Mercer 2014) and as the fastest growing visitor destination in the country (Expedia 2013/2014).
