Cash-strapped conference organisers are turning away from glamorous foreign locations and opting to keep it local, according to Welcome to Yorkshire.
The tourism agency has recorded £16m worth of conferencing revenue for the current financial year, its highest ever total and double last year’s figure.
In a statement, the agency says that with business tourism currently worth £19 billion to the UK economy, if Yorkshire’s success is being reflected around the country, “it could be worth a great deal more as conference facilities in the UK benefit from firms reducing company expenditure and conferencing at home rather than abroad.”
Welcome To Yorkshire’s chief executive Gary Verity said: “The days of the company conference in St Lucia, Sydney or Stockholm are on hold, the business traveller is definitely back in economy class, which is great news for UK conference venues.
“Yorkshire has seen a doubling of conference sales business (£16m up from £7m in 2009/10) which is a phenomenal achievement and we predict that trend will continue as more companies, associations and confederations tighten their belts and conference closer to home in the years ahead.”
Verity added: “We have seen some major success for our conferencing teams across the county and we think this year could be the dawn of a new era of ‘domestication’ in UK tourism with people holidaying, as well as conferencing, at home.”
by Dinah Hatch
