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Business events research

View the latest data and insights relating to business visits and events in Britain.

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

The enclosed report was presented to British city stakeholders, extracting data from multiple sources from across the industry including the Event Industry Council, International Congress and Convention Association, the Size and Scale Index for Exhibitions and UK Conference and Meeting survey.

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.
PDF

VisitBritain Business Events Insights Webinar 2023

Exploring business events performance, on both an international and national level

Download (4.89 MB)

Understanding business visits

This report was based on data from the International Passenger Survey (IPS), carried out by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) during 2016, 2018, 2019, and 2022. In those years, we asked those who visited the UK for business about their main purpose or reason for visiting the UK on business (this includes meetings, conferences and trade shows.)

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).
PDF

Understanding Business Visits to the UK

Access the full findings

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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)

This report focused on two main topics: expenditure by inbound business visitors to Britain, and behaviour of delegates extending their trip for leisure.

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.
PDF

Business visitor spend and trip extension (2018)

Access the full findings:

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