Business events research
Introduction
The business visits and events sector is incredibly diverse – covering trade fairs, conferences and congresses, outdoor and entertainment events, as well as business tourism.
For further information, please contact research@visitbritain.org.
Business Events Research & Insights Webinar 2023
Webinar highlights
- Looking at sector performance, the Events Industry Council uncovered $1.2 trillion in direct spending and 10.9 million direct jobs globally supported by the business events sector in 2019, with 81% and 74% recovered respectively in 2022.
- In the UK, UKCAMS estimated that 1.0 million conferences and meetings were held in the UK in 2022; 73% of pre-pandemic levels. SASiE revealed that UK exhibitions recovered to an estimated 91% of 2019 levels in 2022, with a robust recovery beginning in March of that year.
- Turning to association events, the UK was ranked 6th worldwide by ICCA for the number of meetings hosted in 2022, and recovered to 76% of pre-COVID volumes in that year.
- Future trends from MMGY showed that in person meetings were most popular for the next 2 years, with planners and attendees both subject to economic pressures. Bleisure continues to be highly relevant, and sustainability is growing in importance in both planners’ and attendees’ minds.
VisitBritain Business Events Insights Webinar 2023
Exploring business events performance, on both an international and national level
Understanding business visits
Report highlights
Business visits accounted for 16% of all inbound visits in 2022: a total of 5.1 million visits, contributing £5.0 billion in spend (19% of all inbound spend in 2022).
- UK business visitors had a shorter length of stay, but the average spend per night was much higher than the all-purpose average figure – making this a very valuable segment to the UK tourism industry.
- Post-COVID recovery is underway for Business visitors, with visits reaching 59% of 2019 levels in 2022, and spend reaching 86% of 2019 levels (76% spend recovery in real terms). However, this was one of the slower recovering journey purposes in that year.
- A significant proportion of Business visitors fall within the Business Events or MICE category (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Exhibitions). In 2022, 22% of inbound business travellers were from this sector (1.1 million), and they were the source of 29% of business spend (£1.5 billion).
Understanding Business Visits to the UK
Access the full findings
Business visits to the UK by overseas residents (2022)
Business Event Type | Visits (000) | Nights (000) | Spend (£m) |
Meeting one to five people | 950 | 3,183 | £934 |
Meeting six to 20 people | 895 | 3,649 | £1,139 |
MICE including: | 1,112 | 5,102 | £1,456 |
- Meeting more than 21 people | 361 | 1,628 | £507 |
- Incentive or team building | 94 | 490 | £139 |
- Conference, convention or congress | 414 | 1,940 | £504 |
- Exhibition, event or trade show | 242 | 1,043 | £305 |
Training or development | 248 | 2,620 | £423 |
Lorry driving | 1,352 | 2,876 | £183 |
Other | 520 | 5,660 | £745 |
Don’t know | 73 | 742 | £101 |
All business visits | 5,149 | 23,832 | £4,982 |
Business visitor spend and trip extension (2018)
Report highlights
- International business events attracted much higher average spend than their domestic equivalents, as international visitors stayed longer and paid higher attendance fees.
- Delegates from outside Europe spent £1,748 on average. This compared to £990 for delegates from within Europe, and £329 for UK delegates.
- Among those who extended their trip for leisure, the average spent £1,942. Without the extension they would have spent £991 on average.
Business visitor spend and trip extension (2018)
Access the full findings:
Related resources
The China MICE Market (Published September 2018) (PDF, 2.03 MB) provides insights into the key characteristics of the Chinese meetings and incentives market.
View data on the activities of business visitors in the UK (Published March 2021) (XLSX, 8.64 MB) between 2006 and 2019 – including going to the theatre or visiting a park.
A full data set of activities that can be filtered to business visitors can be found on our dedicated activities page.