Birmingham voted top events destination outside London

Birmingham has been ranked the most popular destination outside London for meetings, conferences and events by the fifth annual British Meetings & Events Industry Survey (BMEIS).
The business tourism survey provides valuable research each year into the buying trends of more than 600 event organisers from the corporate and not-for-profit sectors in the UK.

Birmingham remains ahead of Manchester, Glasgow and Leeds as the preferred UK regional events destination among industry professionals. The 2013/14 survey also revealed that ‘access’ and ‘location’ are the top influencing factors in selecting a destination, while city centre hotels enjoy more use than any other type of venue.

The survey’s findings follow the third annual Meet Birmingham Showcase in November. The two-day event, organised by the city’s official business tourism programme Meet Birmingham, provided a comprehensive overview of the region’s conferencing offer. It brought together more than 50 regional suppliers and event buyers – who collectively place more than 20,000 events each year.

Ian Taylor, commercial director of Marketing Birmingham, which operates Meet Birmingham, said: “Birmingham’s ranking as the preferred business tourism destination outside London highlights the wealth of event spaces that we offer across the region and the continued hard work of our partners to provide the best possible experiences for our visitors.

“The findings demonstrate the impact that events, such as the Meet Birmingham Showcase, can have in educating and building important relationships with the people who organise conferences, meetings and events.

Read more: http://www.incentivetravel.co.uk