There were more than a million conferences and events in the UK in 2022 - more than double the amount in 2021 - as the UK sector bounced back from Covid-19, according to the latest research.
The ‘UK Conference and Meeting
Survey 2023’ (UKCAMS), now in its 30th consecutive year, has
quantified the scale of the recovery and documented other key characteristics
and trends.
The
UKCAMS report shows that, in 2022, there were an estimated 1.02 million
conferences and meetings in the UK, representing a substantial recovery from
2020 and 2021 (0.2 million and 0.44 million events respectively). Such events
generated an estimated £16.3 billion of direct expenditure in venues and the
wider destination, compared with an estimated £4.9 billion in 2021, and only
slightly below the pre-Covid level of £17.6 billion in 2019.
At
the same time, capital investment by conference venues in their facilities is
increasing, with over 70 per cent of venues developing their product, spending
an average of £166,000 in 2022. This suggests greater optimism in the
industry’s future performance, even though investment levels have still
remained below the pre-Covid years of 2018 (an average of £209,000 per venue)
and 2019 (an average of £176,000).
Other key findings from the 2023 UKCAMS research include:
-
Over half
of venues reported that domestic enquiry levels have returned to 2019 levels,
with one in three venues saying that they are higher than 2019
-
International
enquiries had not returned as quickly – with only a quarter of venues reporting
that levels were the same as or better than 2019
-
The UK’s
key international market is the USA, with Germany and France also being
important
-
The
average size of meetings in 2022 was 73 delegates, although most events (64 per
cent) comprised 50 delegates or fewer. Approximately 6 per cent of events had
more than 200 delegates
-
There was
an average of 292 conferences and meetings per venue in 2022, compared to 124
in 2021 and 405 in 2019. Purpose-built convention centres, in particular,
showed strong growth
-
About a
third of all events in 2022 were organised by a professional conference
organiser (PCO) or event management agency
-
The most
common sustainability credentials requested from venues by event organisers
were for a waste / recycling policy and a sustainability policy document.
Findings of the UKCAMS research are widely used to:
-
Demonstrate
the volume of the UK conference and meetings sector and its value to individual
venues and to the national economy
-
Highlight
key trends from a venue or supply-side perspective
-
Ensure
continuing support and investment for the industry at national, regional and
local levels.
VisitBritain head of business events Paul Black said: “VisitBritain
is pleased to support the ‘UK Conference and Meeting Survey’ which provides
important insights, research and data on the business events sector in the UK.
This is one of the valuable tools we use to demonstrate the importance of
events to the UK economy with Government.
We are delighted to see the strength of the sector’s recovery from the
pandemic and VisitBritain will continue to work closely with our venue and
destination partners to build on the current optimism revealed by the UKCAMS research.”
Tony Rogers, on behalf of the
UKCAMS research team, added: “The UKCAMS research has consistently demonstrated the
scale and importance of the conference and meetings industry to the national
economy. The 2023 UKCAMS research programme confirms that the industry has not
only turned the corner post-Covid but is also confident in its ability to
deliver business, research and educational benefits for its participants both
now and in the future.”
The
2023 UKCAMS research was sponsored by VisitBritain with support from venuedirectory.com.
The
research was carried out by Richard Smith of RJS Associates and by Tony Rogers.
Copies
of the full UKCAMS 2023 report are available to buy at http://www.ukcams.org.uk.
