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The Economic
Impact of the
UK Meeting &
Event Industry
Project Director: Dr ShiNa Li
Research Team (in alphabetical order): Glenn
Bowdin, Emma Heslington, Steve Jones, Jackie
Mulligan, Mihaela-Oana Tara-Lunga, Carolyn
Tauxe, Professor Rhodri Thomas, Dr Pei-Ying Wu.
Additional technical contributions: Professor
Adam Blake (Bournemouth University), Professor
Calvin Jones (Cardiff University) and Professor
Leo Jago (University of Surrey and Bournemouth
University)
The team also would like to acknowledge the
support of Dr Emma Wood and Tony Rogers.
2013 | Page 2
CONTENTS
Executive Summary........................... 3
1. INTRODUCTION............................ 3
1.1. Background to the Study............... 3
1.2. UK Economic Impact
Study Objectives.......................... 3
1.3. Refinements on Earlier
Approaches.................................. 3
1.4. Structure of the Report.................. 4
2. The UNWTO’s Approach to
Measuring the Economic
Importance of the Meeting
Industry........................................4
2.1. Background to the UNWTO
(2006) Study................................ 4
2.2. Key Definitions and Scope
of the Meetings Industry by
UNWTO (2006).............................. 4
2.3. The TSA and the Meetings
Industry....................................... 4
2.3.1 The TSA and Its Limitations for the
Meetings Industry......................... 4
2.3.2. Adaptations of the TSA to
Cover the Meeting Industry.......... 5
2.4. A Summary of Previous Studies
Using the UNWTO Approach.......... 5
3. Methodology................................ 6
3.1. Primary Data Collection &
Establish the Industry Profile......... 6
3.1.1. Primary Data Collection................. 6
3.1.2. Type of New Money Flowing
into a Host Economy..................... 6
3.1.3. Number of Questionnaires
Received and Breakdown.............. 7
3.1.4. Secondary Research..................... 7
3.2. The Evaluation of the Industry
Economic Impact.......................... 7
3.2.1. Two Economic Approaches
for this Study................................ 7
3.2.2. Meetings and Tourism Satellite
Account (MTSA)............................ 8
3.2.3. Input-Output Modelling................ 9
4. UK Meeting Industry Activites ...... 9
4.1. Meeting Industry Profile................ 9
4.2.1. Spending Profile........................... 11
4.2.2. Direct Spending Associated
with Meetings Attendees.............. 11
4.2.3. Direct Spending Associated
with Meeting Organisers............... 12
4.2.4. Total Direct Spending
on Meeting Activities.................... 13
5. Total Economic Contribution
of the Meeting Industry................ 13
5.1. Direct Gross Value Added (GVA) and
Employment Contribution............. 13
5.1.1. Direct Gross Value Added
by Meetings Activities................... 13
5.1.2. Direct Meeting GVA by Country,
Region and City Levels.................. 13
5.1.3. Comparison of Direct GVA
Contribution with Other
Industries..................................... 13
5.1.4. Direct Employment Impact
by Meetings Industry.................... 14
5.2. Direct, Indirect and Induced
Economic Impact of Meetings........ 15
5.2.1. Gross Domestic Product (GDP)....... 15
5.2.2. Industry Output............................ 15
5.2.3. Employment (FTEs)........................ 15
5.2.4. Wages and Salaries...................... 15
5.2.5. Tax Revenues................................ 15
5.2.6. Imports........................................ 16
6. Conclusions.................................. 16
6.1. The Importance of the
Meeting Industry in the UK............ 16
Appendices........................................... 17
Appendix 1. Comparison of National
Economic Contribution
Studies................................. 18
Appendix 2. Geographical Distribution
of Survey Responses Within
the UK................................... 18
Appendix 3. Economic Modelling............... 18
Appendix 4. A Comparison of Data Used
in Comparable Studies........... 19
Appendix 5. Acknowledgements................ 19
Appendix 6. Sources for Secondary
Research............................... 21
List of Figures and Tables
Table 1. Definition of a Meeting........... 8
Table 2. Studies Undertaken Using
the UNWTO Approach............. 11
Figure 1. Spending Categories in the
Meetings Industry.................. 15
Table 3. A Summary of Data
Collected................................ 14
Table 4. Survey Responses
Received from Each
Stakeholder Group................. 15
Table 5. Research Methods and
Main Data Needed.................. 16
Figure 2. Extend TSA to MTSA................ 17
Figure 3. The Circular Flow of
Spending on Meetings............ 19
Table 6. Meeting Volume by Home
Country, English Region
and City................................. 21
Figure 4. Proportion of Total
Meetings by Type.................... 22
Figure 5. Proportion of Total
Venues by Type....................... 23
Figure 6. Proportion of Total
Meetings by Venue Type.......... 10
Figure 7. Proportion of Total Meetings
by Host Organisations............. 10
Figure 8. Meeting Number by
Month (2011)......................... 11
Figure 9. Proportion of Total Attendance
by Meeting Type..................... 11
Table 7. Total Revenue for UK Meeting
Organisations and Venues
in 2011.................................. 11
Table 8. Attendee Spending................. 11
Table 9. Exhibitor Operation
Spending............................... 12
Table 10. Direct Spending by Meeting
Organisers............................. 12
Table 11. Meeting Organiser Spending
by Meeting Type..................... 12
Table 12. Total Direct Spending on
Meeting Activities................... 13
Table 13. Direct Gross Value Added
Generated by Meetings
Activities................................ 13
Table 14. Direct Gross Value Added
Generated by Meetings
Activities by Location.............. 13
Table 15. Direct GVA Contribution
by Different Sectors................ 14
Table 16. The Number of Direct
Meetings Full-time Equivalent
Jobs....................................... 15
Table 17. Direct, Indirect and Induced
Impact on GDP........................ 15
Table 18. Direct, Indirect and Induced
Impact on Industry Output...... 15
Table 19. Direct, Indirect and Induced
Impact on Employment........... 15
Table 20. Direct, Indirect and Induced
Impact on Wages and Salaries. 15
Table 21. Direct, Indirect and Induced
Impact on Tax Revenues.......... 16
Figure 10. The Composition of Total
Contributions to Different
Taxes..................................... 16
Table 22. Direct, Indirect and Induced
Impact on Imports.................. 16
2013 | Page 3
Executive Summary
This economic impact study presents a milestone in the history of
the UK meeting industry, calculating for the first time the sector’s
value to the UK economy. The study was commissioned by the
MPI Foundation and was supported by industry investors who
are acknowledged herein. The research was undertaken by the
International Centre for Research in Events, Tourism and Hospi-
tality at Leeds Metropolitan University.
More than 1.3 million meetings were held in the UK in 2011 in
more than 10,000 venues. Attendees1 spent just under £40 billion
attending UK meetings, and most meetings took place in London,
the South East and the West Midlands. After England, Scotland
took the lead in hosting the largest number of meetings. Whilst large
hotels hosted most meetings, unusual and unique venues proved
popular for conference organisers, and small hotels more popular
for incentive events. Corporate clients hosted the vast majority of
events, with many (more than 60%) favouring smaller meetings
of less than 100 people. Meeting organisers staged on average 147
events in the year and received £11 billion from hosting meetings in
the UK and £1.4 billion from hosting meetings outside the UK.
The profile data reveal a significant amount of activity that is
geographically spread across the UK. This study underlines the im-
portance of this activity beyond benefits to businesses attending and
staging events, to the UK economy as a whole. Results reveal that
the meeting industry rated 17th among more than 100 industries
in the UK, generating more than £20.6 billion in gross value added
(GVA) and £58.4 billion in gross domestic product (GDP) in 2011.
The total GDP generated by meetings accounts for about
2.9% of the UK GDP. As well as making a significant contribution
to that GDP, the meeting industry is a significant employer; results
reveal that the sector directly generated 423,500 full-time equiva-
lent jobs across a wide range of industries, and when considering
the direct, indirect and induced jobs supported by the meeting
industry, this number rises to more than one million. The meeting
industry contributed more than £21 billion to tax revenues.
Many studies have sought to measure the role of meetings
globally and in the UK. However, the common challenge in
researching the sector has been the fragmentation of the indus-
try, which makes it difficult to define and access data. Meetings
are not an industrial sector, but “a form of final demand, which
may involve the majority of sectors, such as accommodation,
construction, entertainment, in an economy to a greater or lesser
degree” and the output and employment of those sectors are
dependent on meeting demands.2
To overcome these identified challenges, the findings herein
have used a methodology that has been developed by the UN
World Tourism Organisation. The purpose of this methodology is
to evaluate the economic importance of the meeting industry and
support the development of more robust and consistent measures
that can be compared internationally and used to demonstrate to
policy makers the role meetings play in economies. National stud-
ies using this methodology and the consistent definitions of what
constitutes the meeting industry have been undertaken in the USA,
Canada, Mexico, Australia and Denmark.
Whilst previous studies commissioned by MPI have focused
on national economic impact, the UK economic impact study
is the first MPI-commissioned study to provide data at a sub-
national level. The study has produced profile data and economic
impact at home country and regional levels as well as in five cit-
ies, namely, London, Edinburgh, Cardiff, Belfast and Liverpool.
The research also included assessments on the revenues generated
from UK companies that hosted events overseas, economic leak-
age and the spend of accompanying persons, making this study
the most comprehensive picture of the meeting industry to date
for the UK and one of the most comprehensive studies under-
taken internationally.
1. INTRODUCTION
1.1. Background to the Study
The UK Economic Impact Study (UKEIS), commissioned by
the Meeting Professionals International (MPI) Foundation and
undertaken by Leeds Metropolitan University, represents a
landmark study for the UK meeting industry. It is, to date, the
most comprehensive assessment of the economic impact of the
industry on the British economy.
Although there has been growing recognition that the meeting
industry makes a substantial economic contribution, the evidence
base to support such a claim has, until now, been fragmented.
Several valuable studies have been undertaken in recent years
that have incorporated elements of the meeting industry, but their
approach to economic modelling and data gathering have varied
significantly. The lack of consistency and alignment with interna-
tional standards has also prevented comparison between the value
of the industry in one country and another. More importantly, it
has made it difficult for the representatives of the meeting industry
to provide evidence of its significance effectively.
In order to provide a comprehensive profile of the UK meeting
industry and to measure its economic impact robustly, the UKEIS
adopted a framework designed by the UN World Tourism Organisa-
tion (UNWTO) for measuring the sector’s economic importance.3
This framework has been used for similar studies of the meeting
industry in the USA, Canada, Mexico, Australia and Denmark. One
of its particular strengths is that it connects with official national
accounting systems, specifically Tourism Satellite Accounts.
1.2. UK Economic Impact Study Objectives
This study was commissioned in 2012. The most recent full cal-
endar year of data available was, therefore, for 2011. To achieve
its aim of assessing the economic impact of the meeting industry
on the British economy, the objectives were to:
• UtilisetheframeworkdevelopedbytheUNWTOand
apply the approaches used in previous EIS studies in the
USA and Canada,
• Collectdatafromboththedemandandsupplysides
of the UK meeting industry to establish a comprehensive
profile of the industry at both national and regional levels,
• FollowtheUNWTO’sinitiativesbyconstructingtheUK
meeting tourism satellite account,
• MeasurethedirecteconomiccontributionoftheUK
meeting industry at both national and regional levels,
• Measuretheindirectandinducedeconomicimpact
of the UK meeting industry and
• Provideastandardapproachforfuturestudies
of the UK meeting industry.
1.3. Refinements on Earlier Approaches
The sector’s economic research in the USA,4 Mexico5 and
Canada6 that informed this report were studies of national econ-
omies. This study disaggregates the analysis to home country and
English regional levels, as well as for five UK cities (Belfast, Car-
diff, Edinburgh, Liverpool and London). It also enhances earlier
approaches by:
• Includingeconomicleakagesandtheimpactsofimports,
thus, calculating the extent to which meetings spend flows
out of the UK economy;
• IncludingcontributionofmeetingsoutsidetheUKby
British meeting organisers; and
• Verifying2011estimationswithdatacollectedfor2012
live events.
2013 | Page 4
1.4. Structure of the Report
The remainder of this report is divided into the following sections.
Section 2 outlines the UNWTO’s framework for measuring the
economic importance of the meetings industry, which has been
utilised for this study.
Section 3 explains the theoretical and methodological consid-
erations associated with this research. The study was divided
into two stages. The first consisted of primary and secondary
data collection to construct a profile of the industry. The second
stage involved building a UK Meeting Tourism Satellite Account
(MTSA) and undertaking Input-Output (I-O) modelling to esti-
mate the economic contribution of the meeting industry.
Section 4 provides a profile of the meeting industry.7
Section 5 presents the findings—the economic importance of the
meeting industry in terms of direct Gross Value Added (GVA)
and direct employment, generated by the MTSA. It should be
noted that the MTSA is an account rather than a model.8 It can,
therefore, capture economic contributions directly associated
with meetings activities, but cannot evaluate the total economic
impact, in particular the indirect and induced impact of the
meeting industry. I-O modelling evaluates the total economic
impact of the meeting industry in terms of total gross domestic
product, industry output, employment, wages and salaries, tax
and import.
Section 6 concludes the report findings.
Section 7 presents appendices to support the contents of this report.
2. THE UNWTO’S APPROACH TO MEASURING
THE ECONOMIC IMPACT OF THE MEETING
INDUSTRY
2.1. Background on the UNWTO (2006) Study9
In order to demonstrate the value of the meeting industry in a
consistent and credible manner, key organisations in the sector,
including Reed Travel Exhibitions, the International Congress
& Convention Association (ICCA) and Meeting Professionals
International (MPI), joined with the UNWTO to undertake a
study to adapt the Tourism Satellite Accounts (TSAs) to “reflect
the real importance of the meetings industry and its contribution
to tourism” (p. vii).
As the meeting industry brings delegates to host destinations
and these delegates consume similar services to those consumed
by tourists (hotels, restaurants and local transport), there has
been a long-standing connection between meetings and tourism.
For many, the predominant, if not entire value of meetings, is
seen to be their ability to attract delegates/tourists to a region,
and hence it is not surprising that measures used in the tourism
industry would be seen as an appropriate base from which to
assess the value of meetings. The fact that both industries are
termed “demand-side activities,” where consumers rather than
suppliers determine economic contribution, further enhances the
connection.
2.2. Key Definitions and Scope of the Meetings Industry
by UNWTO (2006)
The UNWTO study revealed that a fundamental problem in
seeking to assess the size and value of the meeting industry was
the fact that it had a proliferation of definitions and no consis-
tency as to which components of the industry should be includ-
ed. According to UNWTO (2006), the following four dimensions
are needed to adequately define a meeting.
1. Meeting aims
2. Meetings venues
3. Meeting size
4. Meeting duration
After an extensive literature review and discussion with key in-
formants, the UNWTO report recommended definitions for each
of the four elements, and these are included in Table 1. For this
particular study, three additional dimensions have been included:
meeting location, key meeting types and meeting types excluded.
Table 1. Definition of a Meeting
2.3. The TSA and the Meeting Industry
2.3.1. The Tourism Satellite Account and Its Limitations for
the Meeting Industry
Most countries use the International Standard Industrial Clas-
sification (ISIC), or a variation of it, to classify the industries that
appear in their National Accounts. This is the manner by which
the economic contribution of different industries is identified.
The ISIC code categorises groups of businesses that produce simi-
lar products, and it focuses on the supply side of the equation.
Tourism is not included in ISIC or in the National Accounts;
it is a demand-side activity—it depends on the status and behav-
Meeting Aims
To motivate participants, to conduct business,
to share ideas, to learn, to socialise and to hold
discussions.
Meeting Length Four hours or more
Meeting Size Minimum 10 participants
Meeting Venue Where there is payment for the use of a contracted
venue for meetings.
Meeting Location United Kingdom
Key Meeting Types
• Conventions/conferences/congresses
• Trade shows/business exhibitions
• Consumer shows/consumer exhibitions
• Incentive events
• Corporate/business meetings
• Other meetings (which qualify under the dened
criteria above)
Meeting Types
Excluded
• Social or recreational/entertainment activities
• Formal educational activities
• Political campaign rallies
SOURCE: UNWTO7
2013 | Page 5
iour of consumers rather than the types of suppliers. In the Na-
tional Accounts, the economic contribution of tourism is spread
across the many ISIC-defined industries that make up tourism,
such as accommodation and transport. As tourism is not identi-
fied separately in the National Accounts, it was not possible to
identify tourism’s economic contribution or compare it with the
economic contributions of other industries.
In order to address this problem, the concept of Tourism Sat-
ellite Accounts was introduced. As the name suggests, a TSA is a
component of the National Accounts that enables the economic
contribution of the tourism industry to be measured and com-
pared in a method consistent with the National Accounts. A TSA
extracts the tourism-related activity from the National Accounts
by examining the expenditure patterns of tourists collected via
surveys and extracting expenditure made by tourists within other
industries listed in the National Accounts.
The TSA separates products into two categories, namely,
specific tourism products (tourism-characteristic and tourism-
connected products) and non-specific products (other products
that are consumed by tourists but don’t fall into the previous
categories). Tourism-characteristic products are those that
would cease to exist, or whose consumption would substantially
decline, if tourism were to cease. Tourism-connected products are
those where the amount consumed is significant for the tourist
and/or the producer.
The development of the TSA provided a means for the
economic contribution of tourism to be identified in a method
consistent with the National Accounts that was seen as credible
by government treasury officials.
Like tourism, the meeting industry is largely a demand-side
activity and does not have an ISIC code. As a consequence, it is
not recognised in the National Accounts, and thus its economic
contribution could not be identified. Whilst utilisation of the
TSA framework for the meeting industry has some substantial
appeal, the UNWTO (2006) identified that there were two major
limitations to this endeavour:
1. The lack of a clear definition of the meeting industry and
2. The lists of tourism-characteristic industries and products
do not reflect meetings activities.
There is also the issue that a large number of meeting attendees
reside in the host destination and therefore do not fit the classifi-
cation of a tourist under the TSA. As such, the economic activity
of these local meeting attendees could not be included in the
TSA, resulting in a significant understatement of the economic
contribution of the meeting industry to the economy.
Despite the obvious appeal of using the TSA to estimate
the economic contribution of the meeting industry as identified
above, the existing TSA structure was not able to satisfy the task.
Although the two industries overlap, neither is totally covered by
the other, with most tourism activity being non-meeting activity
and a large percentage of meeting activity being for non-tourists.
Amendments were required to the TSA structure if it was to be
able to estimate the economic contribution of the meeting sector.
2.3.2. Adaptations of the TSA to Cover the Meeting Industry
In order to address the limitations of using the TSA to estimate
meeting industry activity, the UNWTO (2006) proposed a clear
definition for the sector and its various dimensions, as sum-
marised in Table 1. On the supply side, the UNWTO (2006)
recommended the establishment of a new ISIC category to collect
economic data on industries identified as “meeting-characteristic
industries.” The new code, ISIC 8230, is titled “Convention
and trade show organisers” and defines the scope of the meet-
ing industry. It was acknowledged, however, that there are some
limitations in the use of this single code to reflect the supply side
of the meeting industry, including the facts that not all sector
businesses are included in the definition and that there are many
organisations that host meetings whose primary activity does not
fall under ISIC 8230.
Whilst the meeting industry would undoubtedly like to see
a separate satellite account established, there is little chance
of such an outcome occurring in the foreseeable future. The
UNWTO (2006) indicated that the most appropriate option for
estimating the contribution of the meeting industry was to incor-
porate into the TSA framework a complementary set of tables
that specifically identify meeting activities. The method involves
undertaking supply-side and demand-side analyses as follows.
Supply Side
• UseISIC8230todenethemeetingindustry.
• Identifytheindustriesthatshouldbeclassiedasmeetings-
characteristic industries, such as accommodation providers.
• Identifyalistofservicesprovidedbythemeetingindustry
as a whole.
• Collectdatafromin-scopebusinessesondimensionssuch
as income, costs, employment, number of meetings held,
number of participants (categorised by local, domestic
visitors and international visitors) and investment.
Demand Side
• Collectdatafromsamplesofmeetingattendeesand
accompanying persons on their expenditure behaviour,
including categories of expenditure, length of the meeting,
length of stay in the destination and numbers in the
travel party.
Data that are collected can then be incorporated into the TSA. In
addition to the standard tourism-characteristic industries, there
will also be meetings-characteristic industries that entail addi-
tional tables to those that are standard in the TSA. These tables
provide the opportunity to insert the activity of meeting attend-
ees who are from the local area who would not be included in
the standard TSA.
2.4. A Summary of Previous Studies Using the UNWTO Approach
The UNWTO approach has been used in national studies to es-
timate the economic contribution of the meeting industry in five
countries as listed in Table 2.
Table 2. Studies Undertaken Using the UNWTO Approach
STUDY NAME AUTHOR
National Business Events Study (2005)
Australia10
Deery, Jago, Fredline
& Dwyer for STCRC
The Economic Contribution of Meetings
Activity in Canada (2008)
Maritz Research for MPI
Canada
The Economic Significance of Meetings
to the US Economy (2011)
PWC on behalf of the
Convention Industry
Council
The Economic Significance of Meetings
to Mexico (2011)
PWC on behalf of Tourism
Mexico
The Economic Contribution of Meeting
Activity in Denmark (2012) Visit Denmark
2013 | Page 6
3.1.2. Types of New Money Flowing into a Host Economy
Spending by different stakeholders is an essential part of evaluating
the economic contribution of meetings, as this represents spending
that is “new money” injected into the economy (Figure 1).
Figure 1. Spending Categories in the Meeting Industry
Source: Adapted from Li, S. and Blake, A. (2009). “Estimating Olympic
Related Investment and Expenditure”, International Journal of Tourism
Research, 11(4): 337-356, and the USEIS report (2011).
The model identifies six types of new money flowing into the host
economy from meetings. Stakeholders can be associated with
spend and are matched here with the six categories in Figure 1.
Type 1: Spending on rental, planning and production -
meeting host/organisers
Type 2: Spending on tourism-related activities - attendees
and exhibitors (and their friends and families12)
Type 3: Spending on suppliers - venue managers
Type 4: Spending on exhibit displays - exhibitors
Type 5: Spending by governments and NGOs -
governments and NGOs
Type 6: Spending on import leakage - relevant to most
of the stakeholders
In order to estimate the total spending on meetings, researchers
undertook surveys of the five key stakeholder groups.
In order to conduct an economic contribution evaluation of
the meeting industry, it is important to understand the difference
between tourists, business tourists and meeting attendees. The
spending patterns of meeting attendees, the focus of this study,
differ from tourists (or business tourists). Meeting attendees may
well spend on tourism products, but also spend on meetings
products, such as registration fees and other optional meeting
programs. Spending on these meetings products may not be
captured in tourism surveys and will more commonly be booked
and paid for in advance of arrival by employers.
Whilst the UNWTO approach provides general guidelines to the
estimation of the economic contribution of the meeting industry,
it is not prescriptive. This has provided the appropriate flexibility
in the manner in which the approach has been operationalized in
the various studies that have been undertaken using this method.
As each study has adopted the main UNWTO guidelines, how-
ever, there is a general level of comparability among studies. A
comparison of the five studies across a range of dimensions can
be found in Appendix 1.
3. METHODOLOGY
3.1. Primary Data Collection and Establishment
of an Industry Profile
3.1.1. Primary Data Collection
In the first phase, researchers collected data and processed it
from primary and secondary sources, so that meetings activi-
ties could be captured and presented. Based on these data, they
estimated an input of participant (meeting attendee11) and
non-participant spending (meeting organisations and venues) for
the four home countries (England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ire-
land), the main regions of England (East, East Midlands, Greater
London, North East, North West, South East, South West, West
Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber) and five UK cities
(Belfast, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Liverpool and London).
Using the input data, the team established the profile of the
meeting industry, including meetings activities, meeting demand
volume and spending profile. Spending profile included not only
the total spending for the meeting industry, but spending catego-
rised under different meeting types, for example trade shows,
incentive events and conferences. Primary research consisted of
online surveys aimed at five stakeholder groups of both the de-
mand side (meeting attendees and exhibitors) and the supply side
(meeting organisers, venue managers and destination manage-
ment organisations).
Previous studies informed the design of research instruments,
especially those undertaken by the UNWTO and other EIS
projects in the USA, Canada and Mexico. Samples were derived
from databases held by Leeds Metropolitan University, Experian
and other stakeholders. Links to questionnaires were sent to
prospective participants via email. Online panel recruitment
was also used to obtain meeting attendee and exhibitor data, as
well as additional responses from meeting organisers and venue
managers. Responses were gathered through panel surveys from
international attendees and exhibitors from France, Germany,
Ireland and the USA, which when combined account for 60%
of business visits to the UK.
2013 | Page 7
For each of the sample groups, the research used online
surveys for industry contacts, members of associations, sponsors
and DMOs. Delegate responses were collected through panel
surveys. For panel surveys, Leeds Met worked with Maximiles,
which is well-established in Europe and has extensive reach to
more than 2.4 million qualified panellists, with 950,000 in the
UK alone, and seven propriety panels across Europe, includ-
ing the UK, France, Germany and Switzerland; and Lightspeed,
which has some of the largest online research panels in the indus-
try and has strategic partnerships that allowed broader access.
The study produced five survey schedules targeted at each
sample identified. As Table 3 shows, five questionnaires captured
specific information for each group. This ensured access to a
breadth of complementary data.
Table 3. A Summary of Data Collected
Following the UNWTO approach, the primary research captured
revenues and spending of meeting organisations and venues. It
does not include meeting suppliers such as security and catering,
as these supply chain data are captured through the I-O model-
ling built on National Accounts.
3.1.3. Number of Questionnaires Received and Breakdown
Researchers developed a list of contacts for each survey using
different databases, including Leeds Metropolitan University’s da-
tabase and contact lists provided by other stakeholders. To avoid
sending the questionnaire several times to the same contact on dif-
ferent databases, all databases were sent to a clearinghouse to both
protect data and eliminate duplicates. Researchers received a total
of 3,460 completed questionnaires. Of these, 3,350 responses pro-
vided data from 2011, and a further 110 responses were analysed
from events in 201213 (Table 4). Compared to existing studies (see
Appendix 3), the UKEIS received favourable response numbers
from the five stakeholder groups. The total number of question-
naires received from each group is shown in Table 4.
Table 4. Survey Responses Received from each Stakeholder Group
3.1.4. Secondary Research
Secondary research was conducted for the following purposes.
• Toenableresearcherstoestimatethepopulation,
such as the total number of meetings, meeting attendees and
meetings venues, and sample sizes used by other lead agencies.
• Toprovideadditionaldatatohelpestimatetheinputfor
the economic approaches, for example, the Tourism Satellite
Account and National Accounts.
• Toestablishtheapproachbasedontheexistingreports
of the UNWTO and the approach of measuring the
economic impact for the USA, Mexico and Canada.
3.2. The Evaluation of the Industry Economic Impact
3.2.1. Two Economic Approaches for this Study
One of the main purposes of the primary data collection and
secondary research is to collect data that can be used to inform
the two economic approaches—Meetings and Tourism Satel-
lite Account (MTSA) and Input-Output modelling. MTSA can
capture the direct contribution of meetings, but not the total
economic impact, while I-O modelling can evaluate that total
impact. Like tourism, strictly speaking, meetings do not form an
industrial sector but “a form of final demand, which may involve
the majority of sectors, such as accommodation, construction,
entertainment, in an economy to a greater or lesser degree” and
the output and employment of those sectors are dependent on
meeting demands.14
SURVEY AUDIENCE QUANTITATIVE DATA
Meeting host/organisers
The type of meeting (conference, exhibition,
trade show or incentive), the total number
of delegates, the number of delegates cat-
egorised by origin region/country, meeting
length, expenditure on different supplies
(venue hire, food and beverage, equipment,
administration, advertising, keynote speaker
and insurance) and revenue (registration
fees, sponsorship, government and fees from
exhibitors)
Venue managers
Number of meetings held, number of meet-
ings under different categories (conference
or exhibitions, small, medium or large), the
total number of delegates, the number of del-
egates attending different types of meetings,
seating capacity, building type (purpose
built, unusual or unique venue, small hotel)
Governments and NGOs
Spend on supporting the meeting industry
(advertising and promotion, subsidies),
budget breakdowns and sources of revenue,
changes in spending over recent years
Attendees (and their
friends and family)
Number of accommodation nights for the
meeting, number of extra nights for per-
sonal/professional reasons, the number of
friends/family travelling with delegates, total
spend in attending meetings
Exhibitors (and their
friends and family)
Number of accommodation nights for the
meeting, number of extra nights stayed,
expenditures on the meeting (space rental,
stand construction cost, equipment hire,
electricity, advertising, hire of temporary
staff, display material, freight), other expen-
ditures on tourism-related products and ser-
vices (accommodation, shopping, transport,
food and beverage, entertainment, tours)
SAMPLE SIZE RECEIVED
Meeting Organisers
2,530 253
Survey Panel 295
Venues
1,451 254
Survey Panel 203
Destination Management Organisations 230 33
Attendees - Domestic
- International
Survey Panel 1,174
Survey Panel 443
Exhibitors - Domestic
- International
Survey Panel 255
Survey Panel 440
Live Event Attendees and Exhibitors8 Survey Panel 110
TOTAL 3,460
2013 | Page 8
Table 5. Research Methods and Main Data Needed
3.2.2. Meetings and Tourism Satellite Account
Based on the input from Phase 1, the team developed an Ex-
tended Tourism Satellite Account, which for the purposes of this
project will be called the Meetings and Tourism Satellite Account
(MTSA). This involved two tasks (Figure 2): Identifying and
separating tourism activities/data including tourism demand,
supply and commodities that are relevant to the meetings sector
and collating data relating to other meetings activities, such as
convention and trade show organisers, which are not identified
in the original TSA (illustrated by the diagram below). The TSA
provides detailed information on tourism in the economy, and
can capture direct contributions. To capture total impact (direct
+ indirect + induced impact), the team employed I-O models.
Figure 2. Extend TSA to MTSA
In common with other satellite account approaches, notably for
tourism, the critical outcome for the UK MTSA is an assess-
ment of how much gross value add is directly dependent upon
meetings and conference activities in the UK. (It includes some
revenues from overseas meetings that accrue in the UK by in-
ternational meetings managed by UK companies.) This estimate
of Meetings GVA (MGVA) gives rise to the estimate of full-time
equivalent (FTE) jobs directly supported by meetings.
Again following TSA approaches, researchers estimated this
MGVA using a specific methodology and conceptual approach.
For every commodity or product of interest, researchers estimat-
ed how much output was meetings-dependent—what percent-
age of output individuals or organisations purchased for the
purposes of running or attending meetings or conferences (the
meetings ratio). This ratio was then applied to the total GVA and
employment of the most relevant industry to estimate meetings-
dependent GVA and employment for that industry, and with the
sum of all industries then representing direct meetings GVA and
direct meetings-dependent employment for the UK.
To provide an example, assume that the output of the hotel
industry in the UK was worth £100 billion and that the indus-
try created £50 billion of GVA and directly employed 100,000
FTEs. If the estimate was that 50% of accommodation and hotel
services were bought by those attending or organising meetings,
the relevant totals for that industry would be £25 billion of GVA
and 50,000 FTE jobs.
To estimate the direct GVA and employment using TSA ap-
proaches, researchers estimated the value of each commodity/
product, the UK supply of that product and then the total UK
demand from meetings activities. This was a complex task, with
meetings activity typically hidden amongst a range of sectors in
UK (and other) National Accounts. The surveys were of vital use
in establishing both the spending patterns of the demand-side
(attendees and accompanying persons) and activity on the supply
side—meetings organisers and venues.
The survey data must fit within a wider economic frame-
work, and here the work of the UK Tourism Intelligence Unit
was invaluable. The TIU has published a number of Tourism
Satellite Accounts for the UK that present the National Accounts
according to definitions and sectors. The TSA used for this study
is that for 2009 published by the Office for National Statistics
(ONS).16 This was adjusted to represent a 2011 product supply.
Firstly, the supply for each commodity was updated to 2010
with reference to changes in the level of domestic supply between
2009 and 2010, as reported in the ONS UK Input-Output Supply
& Use Tables.17 As no information is published on more changes
in the relevant supply-side industries, the tables were updated to
2011 with reference to overall economy growth 2010-2011, as
reported by ONS. At this stage the meeting industry reported by
ONS within the TSA was replaced with the survey and second-
ary data-based estimates for the two stakeholder groups—meet-
ing organisations and venues.
The above process was similarly undertaken to estimate
employment by industry for 2011, with the 2009-based work of
the TIU as a foundation, updated to 2011 with Business Register
and Employment Survey (BRES) and other ONS datasets and
then supplemented with the survey results of meeting organisa-
tions and venues.
The demand side was largely provided by the extensive
surveys undertaken and reported in the profile report, which
enabled the estimate of the purchases of each commodity of
interest by conference attendees and accompanying persons (UK
resident and otherwise) in support of conferences held overseas
(requiring UK inputs) and by exhibitors.18 (Summing the non-UK
elements of this spend can be considered an indicator of the sec-
tor’s importance as a driver of UK exports.)
RESEARCH METHODS MAIN DATA/SOURCES
NEEDED PURPOSES
Primary data collection
using different methods,
such as online and
interviews
Both quantitative
and qualitative data
regarding revenues,
spending and
motivations15
Build the industry
profile and evaluate
the input, which
can be fed into the
MTSA and input-
output modelling;
Capture the eco-
nomic profile of the
industry
Secondary research
Existing reports of the
economic conse-
quences of meetings,
economic and sta-
tistics reports/data,
reports on meetings-
related industries
Evaluate the size of
the meeting indus-
try in order to de-
cide the population
size; summarize
and measure the
impact of existing
reports for the USA,
Mexico and Canada.
Meetings and Tourism
Satellite Account
Original Tourism
Satellite Account
Evaluate the size
of the meeting
industry, the nature
of demand and sup-
ply in the meeting
industry, direct em-
ployment and the
direct Gross Value
Added contribution
of meetings
Input-Output modelling Input-Output tables
Evaluate total
economic impacts of
the meeting industry
including the direct,
indirect and induced
economic impacts;
estimate GDP
2013 | Page 9
Researchers then compared the total demand for each com-
modity from these originators to total supply to achieve the meet-
ings ratio. There was, however, an interim step: ensuring matching
prices. The supply side is reported in basic prices (net of taxes and
distributor margins), whereas survey data are collected in purchas-
er prices, including VAT.19 The addition of taxes-less-subsidies and
margins to the supply side and the removal of VAT from the de-
mand figures enabled price matching. The direct GVA at the home
countries, regional and city levels was estimated by considering the
distribution of the volume and value of meetings organisations and
venues across different regions.
3.2.3. Input-Output Modelling
Figure 3 illustrates the information that was collected through
the input-output modelling in particular relation to direct, indi-
rect and induced spending. Input-Output models trace successive
rounds of demand, and the value add that is generated, through-
out the economy as a result of expenditure on particular goods
and services. The direct stage of impact refers to income genera-
tion (through labour earnings, profits and tax revenues) and em-
ployment that occurs in the firms that receive the revenue from
the initial expenditure. The indirect stage of impact encompasses
the income and employment generation in the chain of firms that
supply products to those involved in the direct stage. As a result
of both the direct and indirect stages of impact, households have
higher incomes and employment, and hence will purchase other
goods and services. The income and employment generated as a
result of these purchases make up the induced stage.
Figure 3. The Circular Flow of Spending on Meetings
In seeking to conduct an economic impact assessment for a series
of meetings, one of the fundamental inputs, irrespective of the
evaluation technique used, is an estimate of the direct expendi-
ture generated by the event. This is the new spending that occurs
in the host destination by delegates that would not have occurred
in the absence of these events. Whilst this is a very straightfor-
ward concept, failure to adhere to data collection methods con-
sistent with this concept has led to grossly misinformed studies.
The new spending in the host destination that is generated
by the event and would not have occurred in the absence of the
event is known as direct inscope expenditure.20 The direct expen-
diture includes not only expenditure by event attendees, but also
by event organisers in operating the event and from sponsors
contributing funds from outside the host region, and in the case
of meetings, other types of expenditure such as equipment rental,
planning and production.
The direct expenditure of an event is not the same as the eco-
nomic impact of an event, which is normally measured by Gross
Domestic Product (GDP), household income and employment,
although some studies may use the terms interchangeably. An in-
crease in direct expenditure may not necessarily bring an increase
in GDP and income.21 However, the estimation of the economic
impact is dependent on the statistics of the direct expenditure.
Having estimated the total direct inscope expenditure generated
by a major event, the next step was to feed the data into the
model and estimate the total economic impact of the event.22
4. UK MEETING INDUSTRY ACTIVITIES
4.1. Meeting Industry Profile
Most of the tables presented in this section are from the UKEIS
profile report. Some of the key findings from that profile report
are detailed below.
In 2011, the UK hosted an estimated 1,301,600 meetings.
Table 6 shows the number and percentage of meetings by home
country, English region and city. Most (86%) took place in Eng-
land, 6.6% in Scotland, 5.8% in Wales and 1.6% in Northern
Ireland. Within England, the Greater London region hosted the
most meetings (362,500), followed by the South East (163,349)
and the West Midlands (143,210).
Table 6. Meeting Volume by Home Country, English Region and City
ENGLAND BY REGION MEETINGS PER CENT
IN ENGLAND
Greater London 362,500 32.4
East 78,318 7.0
South East 163,349 14.6
South West 74,961 6.7
East Midlands 55,941 5.0
West Midlands 143,210 12.8
Yorkshire and the Humber 89,506 8.0
North East 30,208 2.7
North West 120,833 10.8
TOTAL 1,118,827 100
CITY MEETINGS PER CENT OF
HOME COUNTRY
London 362,500 32.4
Cardiff 47,376 62.5
Edinburgh 28,553 33
Belfast 14,436 70.6
Liverpool 19,020 1.7
COUNTRY MEETINGS PER CENT
England 1,118,827 86.0
Scotland 86,524 6.6
Wales 75,802 5.8
Northern Ireland 20,447 1.6
TOTAL 1,301,600 100
Community residents &
participants pay taxes
To a local state or
national government
Increasing GDP,
income and jobs in
the community
Money flows through
other industries in
the supply chain Which uses them for
varied purposes e.g.
build convention centres
and tourism facilities,
and promotions
Participants
spend money
in the meeting
related industries
That attract meetings held in
the country and participants
to attend meetings
2013 | Page 10
As Figure 4 shows, the majority of UK meetings in 2011 were
conferences, conventions or congresses (38.9%) or another type
of business meetings (38%). The remaining 23.1% were con-
sumer shows or exhibitions, trade shows or business exhibitions,
incentive events or other meeting types.
Figure 4. Proportion of Total Meetings by Type
The highest percentage of venues was large hotels (more than 50
rooms) with meeting facilities (27.7%). Almost a fifth of venues
(19.8%) were unusual, unique or special-event venues. Purpose-
built convention or exhibition centres made up 14.2% of the
total number. Figure 5 shows the different venue types and the
percentage of each found in the UK in 2011.
Figure 5. Proportion of Total Venues by Type
Large hotels with meeting facilities held all types of meetings, con-
ferences, consumer shows, exhibitions and incentive events. More
trade shows and business exhibitions were held in purpose-built
convention and exhibition centres than in other types of venues.
Small hotels hosted more incentive events. Resort properties, uni-
versity/educational institutions and unique and special-event ven-
ues without bedrooms proved a popular choice for conferences.
Figure 6 shows the percentage of meetings held in different
types of UK venues in 2011. Large hotels with more than 50
rooms and meeting facilities hosted 43% of meetings. Almost a
fifth (19.3%) of meetings were held in purpose-built convention
or exhibition centres without bedrooms.
Figure 6. Proportion of Total Meetings by Venue Type
Independent meeting and event planning organisations hosted the
majority of UK meetings in 2011 (59.4%), followed by corporate
organisations (21.5%). Figure 7 shows the different categories of
host organisations and the percentage of meetings held by each host.
Figure 7. Proportion of Total Meetings by Host Organisation
0 10 20 30 40
Percentage of Total meeting types
Conference/convention/congress
Other business meetings
Other meeting type
Consumer show/consumer exhibition
Incentive event
Trade show/business exhibition
0 10 20 30
Percentage of Total Venues
Large hotel (more than 50 rooms) with meeting facilities
Unusual, unique or special-event venue without bedrooms
Purpose-built convention/exhibition centre without bedrooms
Other venue with meeting facilities
University or other educational institution with meeting facility
Small hotel (less than 50 rooms) with meeting facilities
Resort property with meeting facilities
0 10 20 30 40 50
Percentage of Total meetings
Large Hotel (more than 50 rooms) with meeting facilities
Pupose-built convention/exhibition centre without bedrooms
Other venue with meeting facilities
Small hotel (less than 50 rooms) with meeting facilities
Unusual, unique or special-event venue without
University or other educational institution with meeting facility
Resort property with meeting facilities
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Percentage of Total meetings
Independent meeting/event planning organisation
Corporate
Government
Association/society
Educational
2013 | Page 11
The average length of a meeting was two days. More than half
(53.8%) of UK meetings in 2011 were a day or less in length.
Figure 8 shows the number of meetings held per month in 2011.
April attracted the highest number of meetings (138,832), while
December attracted the lowest number (46,346).
Figure 8. Meeting Number by Month (2011)
The category with the highest number of attendees was consumer
shows/consumer exhibitions, which accounted for 50.2% of the
total number of attendees, followed by conferences, conventions
and congresses, which attracted 38.7% of total attendees.
Figure 9. Proportion of Total Attendance by Meeting Type
UK meetings organisations and venues received £18.3 billion
in 2011 by providing meeting services and products. Meetings
organisations alone received £11 billion, of which £9.7 billion
(88%) from hosting meetings inside the UK and £1.4 billion
(12%) from hosting meetings outside the UK (Table 7). Meetings
venues received £7.2 billion.
Table 7. Total Revenue for UK Meeting Organisations and
Venues in 2011
4.2.1. Spending Profile
Direct spend associated with meetings activities provides impor-
tant data for evaluating the total economic contributions of meet-
ings. It is defined as the money spent on meetings-related products
and services in the UK. There are two types of direct spending,
that associated with meeting attendees and that associated with
direct meeting supplies, such as meeting organisations and venues.
Spending and revenue profiles are captured based on estimations
from primary data and benchmarks from secondary research, such
as VisitBritain data and the USA and Canada EIS studies.
4.2.2. Direct Spending Associated with Meetings Attendees
Table 8 shows that the total direct spending associated with meeting
attendees was estimated to be just under £40 billion,23 with more
than two thirds contributed by UK resident attendees and one third
by attendees from the rest of the world (ROW). The entirety of
this spending was not relevant to tourism spending, and 21% of
the total was spent on meeting registration fees (including optional
meeting programs). Among the spending categories relevant to tour-
ism, meeting attendees spent the most on accommodation (22%)
followed by food and beverages (10%) and air transport (9%).
Table 8. Attendee Spending
160,000
129,563
99,901
134,094 138,832
122,353
126,885
99,489
90,426
116,380 109,994
87,336
46,346
140,000
120,000
100,000
80,000
60,000
40,000
20,000
0
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
Percentage of Total attendance
Consumer show / consumer exhibition
Conference / convention / congress
Trade show / business exhibition
Incentive event
Other business meetings
Meetings Organisations Meetings
————————————————————————— Ven u e s
Hosting UK Hosting non-
meetings UK meetings sub-total TOTAL
Total
(£ millions) 9,708 1,374 11,082 7,187 18,269
Per cent 88% 12% 100%
SPENDING
CATEGORY
(£, MILLION)
UK
RESIDENT
ATTENDEES
ROW 24
RESIDENT
ATTENDEES TOTAL %
Registration fee (includ-
ing optional meeting
programs)
6,220 2,052 8,272 21%
Accommodation 5,989 2,813 8,802 22%
Technology (internet,
phone calls) 1,055 588 1,643 4%
Shopping (souvenirs,
clothing, toiletries,
groceries)
1,112 896 2,008 5%
Air transport 1,340 2,338 3,678 9%
Rail transport 1,797 532 2,329 6%
Local transport 1,226 658 1,884 5%
Car rental 542 308 850 2%
Petrol 1,226 252 1,478 4%
Other transport 542 350 892 2%
Travel services and tours 542 420 962 2%
Leisure events, enter-
tainment and recreation 856 476 1,331 3%
Food and beverages (res-
taurants, cafés, bars) 2,624 1,400 4,023 10%
Other 1,312 322 1,634 4%
TOTAL 26,383 13,404 39,786 100%
2013 | Page 12
Direct spending associated with meeting attendees includes not
only spending by individual meetings attendees, but exhibitor op-
eration spending for items such as floor space rental for exhibits
and stand construction. The total of exhibitor operation spend-
ing was £1.7 billion (Table 9).
Table 9. Exhibitor Operation Spending
This study calculates leakages based on data collected from the
primary research. It is estimated that 39.7% of the total exhibi-
tor operation spending (about £676 million) leaked from the
UK economy, which means that 39.7% was spent on purchasing
products and services from overseas suppliers.
4.2.3. Direct Spending Associated with Meeting Organisers
The total direct spending associated with UK meeting organisers
was £24.7 billion in 2011 (Table 10). Of this spend, £6.4 billion
was funded by registration fees paid by attendees. More than
half of the direct spending was on venue hire, equipment and
production, food and beverages and administration.
The leakage of direct spending was about 7% (£1.7 billion),
which was spent on purchasing goods from overseas companies.
Table 10. Direct Spending by Meeting Organisers
Table 11 displays meeting organiser spending on different types
of meetings. Forty-three per cent of total spending was on host-
ing conferences, conventions and congresses, 18% was on other
business meetings, and 13% was on trade shows and business
exhibitions.
Table 11. Meeting Organiser Spend by Meeting Type
OPERATIONAL SPEND (£, MILLION) AMOUNT %
Floor space rental 358 21%
Stand construction cost (including drayage, onsite
hauling) 221 13%
Equipment hires 91 5%
Electricity/lighting 76 4%
Communications/Internet 93 5%
Advertising/promotion 75 4%
Temporary staff 37 2%
Exhibit décor, display material 88 5%
Freight, exhibit shipment (to venue) 65 4%
Offsite events 60 4%
Sponsorship 117 7%
Other 422 25%
TOTAL 1,702 100%
SPENDING CATEGORY AMOUNT
(£, MILLION) %
Venue hire 4,052 16.5%
Food and beverages 2,848 11.6%
Equipment/production 3,115 12.7%
Technical costs 1,494 6.1%
Administration 2,454 10.0%
Advertising and promotion of 746 3.0%
keynote speakers/trainers and other spon-
sored attendee expenses 454 1.8%
Insurance 305 1.2%
Other facility costs 262 1.1%
Meeting management company/destination
management company 155 0.6%
Printing 403 1.6%
Temporary staff agency 1,470 6.0%
Tour operator services 735 3.0%
Registration 142 0.6%
Company staff (food and beverages, travel,
accommodation) 441 1.8%
Audiovisual and staging 1,445 5.9%
Entertainment/décor/gifts and awards 489 2.0%
Shipping 107 0.4%
Delegate materials (delegate bags, give-aways) 164 0.7%
Transportation 1,200 4.9%
Accommodation (organisation purposes only,
non-delegate) 1,516 6.2%
Corporate social responsibility 40 0.2%
Maintenance and repairs 265 1.1%
Energy and other utilities 110 0.4%
Other 204 0.8%
TOTAL 24,616 100%
MEETING TYPE TOTAL SPEND (£, MILLION) %
Conference/convention/congress 10,610 43%
Consumer show/exhibition 2,289 9%
Trade show/business exhibition 3,299 13%
Incentive event 2,412 10%
Other business meetings 4,431 18%
Other meeting type 1,575 6%
TOTAL 24,616 100%
2013 | Page 13
4.2.4. Total Direct Spend on Meeting Activities
Table 12 lists a summary total of direct meeting spending by
meeting attendees, exhibitor operations and meeting organisers.
A total direct spend of £60 billion was on UK meetings activi-
ties in 2011. The majority of spending (67%) was contributed
by meeting attendees. Registration fees have been included in
both types of spending—by attendees and organisations, which
means this has been counted twice. To avoid double counting,
the registration fees paid by attendees were excluded from the
meeting spend calculation, which resulted in a reduction of the
total spend of meeting organisers to £18 billion.
Table 12. Total Direct Spending on Meeting Activities
5. TOTAL ECONOMIC CONTRIBUTION OF THE
MEETING INDUSTRY
5.1. Direct Gross Value Added and Employment Contribution
5.1.1. Direct Gross Value Added by Meetings Activities
According to the definition used by ONS, Gross Value Added (GVA)
can be used to measure the contribution to the economy of each
individual producer, industry or sector. In total, the direct GVA gener-
ated by meetings activities was £20.6 billion in the UK in 2011 (Table
13). Among tourism-related industries, accommodation services for
meetings attendees generated direct GVA of £3.7 billion. Meetings or-
ganisations generated £3.4 billion of direct GVA and meetings venues
generated £2.2 billion. Other industries outside of tourism and meet-
ings industries, such as printing, fuel, construction and retail distribu-
tion, which are classified as other consumption products, contributed
28% of the total direct GVA of meetings activities.
Table 13. Direct Gross Value Added Generated by Meetings Activitie
5.1.2. Direct Meeting GVA by Country, Region and City
Table 14 shows a breakdown of direct GVA by country, region
and city. Meetings activities in England contributed to the major-
ity of direct meeting GVA (£17.5 billion). Five regions in Eng-
land, namely, Greater London (£5.6 billion), South East (£2.7
billion), West Midlands (£2.2 billion), North West (£1.9 billion)
and Yorkshire and the Humber (£1.4 billion) account for almost
80% of the total meeting GVA of England.
Table 14. Direct Gross Value Added Generated by Meetings
Activities by Location
5.1.3. Comparison of Direct GVA Contribution
with Other Industries
Table 15 displays a list of direct GVA contributions by different
sectors. Apart from the meeting industry, which is not included
in the national account, the UK economy has been classified into
110 sectors on the Supply and Use Tables published by the Office
for National Statistics (ONS). The total GVA generated by all
sectors was £1,316 billion, and GVA generated by the meetings
industry (£20.6 billion) accounts for 1.6% of that total. Com-
pared to other sectors, the meeting industry is ranked in the top
20 of all industries.25
SPENDING CATEGORY
TOTAL
SPENDING (£,
MILLION)
%
Attendee 39,786 67%
Exhibitor operation 1,702 3%
Meeting suppliers 18,164 30%
TOTAL 59,652 100%
INDUSTRIES DIRECT MEETING
GVA (£, MILLION)
Tourism related industries
Accommodation for visitors 3,738
Food and beverage serving 1,671
Railway passenger transport 899
Road passenger transport 700
Water passenger transport 101
Air passenger transport 692
Transport equipment rental 210
Travel and other reservation agencies 633
Sport, recreation and culture activities 588
Meetings-specific industries
Meetings organisations 3,449
Meetings venues 2,220
Other consumption 5,737
TOTAL 20,639
LOCATION DIRECT MEETINGS
GVA (£, MILLION)
Country
England 17,544
Scotland 1,919
Wales 908
Northern Ireland 268
Total (United Kingdom) 20,639
Regions in England
Greater London 5,643
East 1,211
South East 2,705
South West 1,139
East Midlands 944
West Midlands 2,179
Yorkshire and the Humber 1,437
North East 421
North West 1,866
Total England 17,544
City
London 5,643
Cardiff 587
Edinburgh 601
Belfast 128
Liverpool 289
2013 | Page 14
Table 15. Direct GVA Contribution by Different Sectors
5.1.4. Direct Employment Impact by Meeting Industry
Employment impact is shown by full-time equivalent (FTE) jobs.
The total number of full-time equivalent (FTE) jobs directly creat-
ed by meetings activities was 423,445 (Table 16) in 2011. Among
tourism-related industries, meetings activities supported 133,228
FTE jobs in accommodation services for visitors, whilst there
were 14,755 FTEs in meetings organisations and 18,399 FTEs in
meetings venues. Tourism-related and meetings-specific industries
together account for 79% of direct FTEs secured from meetings.
INDUSTRY
ESTIMATED GVA
IN 2011 PRICES
(£, MILLION)
Basic pharmaceutical products and
pharmaceutical preparations 12,428
Rental and leasing services 12,415
Accommodation services 11,566
Machinery and equipment 10,865
Publishing services 10,476
Advertising and market research services 10,358
Computer, electronic and optical products 9,709
Sports services and amusement and recreation
services 8,499
Postal and courier services 8,295
Services furnished by membership organisations 8,016
Waste collection, treatment and disposal services;
materials recovery services 7,722
Products of agriculture, hunting and
related services 7,639
Other personal services 7,572
Printing and recording services 7,452
Other professional, scientific and
technical services 6,965
Services to buildings and landscape 6,745
Other food products 6,112
Programming and broadcasting services 6,085
Services of households as employers of
domestic personnel 5,949
INDUSTRY
ESTIMATED GVA
IN 2011 PRICES
(£, MILLION)
Education services 87,811
Financial services, except insurance and
pension funding 83,989
Human health services 73,450
Retail trade services, except of motor vehicles
and motorcycles 70,193
Public administration and defence services;
compulsory social security services 69,442
Owner-occupiers' housing services 67,424
Wholesale trade services, except of motor
vehicles and motorcycles 53,440
Specialised construction works 33,807
Buildings and building construction works 33,548
Real estate services, excluding on a fee or
contract basis and imputed rent 33,334
Computer programming, consultancy and
related services 28,198
Food and beverage serving services 28,071
Extraction of crude petroleum and natural
gas & mining of metal ores 26,422
Insurance and reinsurance, except compulsory
social security & pension funding 22,813
Wholesale and retail trade and repair services
of motor vehicles and motorcycles 22,700
Telecommunications services 21,911
Meeting industry 20,639
Architectural and engineering services;
technical testing and analysis services 20,451
Land transport services and transport services
via pipelines, excluding rail transport 19,751
Services of head offices; management
consulting services 18,751
Legal services 18,513
Employment services 17,273
Warehousing and support services for
transportation 16,912
Services auxiliary to financial services and
insurance services 16,466
Constructions and construction works for
civil engineering 16,091
Electricity, transmission and distribution 15,639
Residential care services 15,487
Social work services without accommodation 15,326
Office administrative, office support and other
business support services 15,118
Fabricated metal products, excl. machinery and
equipment and weapons & ammunition 13,696
Accounting, bookkeeping and auditing services;
tax consulting services 13,603
2013 | Page 15
Table 16. The Number of Direct Meetings Full-time Equivalent Jobs
5.2. Direct, Indirect and Induced Economic Impact of Meetings
This section presents the total economic impact of meetings on
Gross Domestic Product (GDP), industry output, employment,
labour income, tax revenues and imports. These economic im-
pacts are generated from the UK I-O modelling.
5.2.1. Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
GDP is a key economic indicator that measures the total market
value of goods and services produced by the economy. GDP is
closely linked to GVA in that GDP equals GVA plus taxes and
minus subsidies on products. Meetings activities contributed
£58.4 billion of total GDP impact to the economy in 2011, with
80% contributed by direct and indirect impact (Table 17). The
total GDP impact generated by meetings activities accounts for
about 2.9% of the whole UK economy’s GDP.
Table 17. Direct, Indirect and Induced Impact on GD
5.2.2. Industry Output
Another indicator used to show the economic contribution of
economic activities is industry output, which measures the total
amount of output from all industries. The total industry output
generated by meetings activities in the UK in 2011 was £128.2
billion (Table 18). This is much larger than the total GDP im-
pact. To calculate the industry output of providing air transport
services to meetings attendees, the data need to include the cost
of inputs such as fuel and service charges as well as the value
of final output, which is the cost of airline tickets. As the ticket
cost already includes the cost of fuel and services, the inputs part
has been counted twice. Therefore, industry output differs from
GDP in that the former double-counts the value of inputs for the
production of any services and products.
Table 18. Direct, Indirect and Induced Impact of Industry Output
5.2.3. Employment (FTEs)
In 2011, meetings activities directly generated more than
423,000 FTEs and indirectly generated more than 427,000 FTEs,
which together account for 84% of total employment impacts
(Table 19). The total employment impact as a result of meetings
activities was more than 1 million FTEs across the economy.
Table 19. Direct, Indirect and Induced Impact – Employment
5.2.4. Wages and Salaries
Wages and salaries measure compensation of employees before
deduction of tax and national insurance and after deduction of
employer national insurance contributions. Meetings activities
benefited UK employees by £25.7 billion in wages and salaries
in 2011 (Table 20). Employees who worked directly for meet-
ings organisations earned £8.7 billion, and those who worked
indirectly for meetings earned £12.8 billion.
Table 20. Direct, Indirect and Induced Impact on Wages and Salaries
5.2.5. Tax Revenues
Meetings activities in the UK contributed a total of £21 billion
to government tax revenues (Table 21). This accounts for about
3.6% of total UK tax revenues in 2011. The direct contribution
of tax revenues from meetings was £7.3 billion, and the indirect
contribution was £8.7 billion.
The direct, indirect and induced impacts of six categories—
taxes on products (mainly VAT and excise duties), taxes on
production (mainly business rates), income tax, corporation tax
and employee and employer national insurance contributions—
brought by meetings activities are presented in Table 21.
INDUSTRIES DIRECT FTES
Tourism related industries
Accommodation for visitors 133,228
Food and beverage serving 54,607
Railway passenger transport 15,585
Road passenger transport 45,951
Water passenger transport 273
Air passenger transport 6,605
Transport equipment rental 1,772
Travel/reservation agencies 15,711
Sport, recreation and culture activities 25,025
Meetings-specific industries
Meetings organisations 14,755
Meetings venues 18,399
Other consumption products 87,006
TOTAL 423,445
GROSS DOMESTIC
PRODUCT (£, MILLION) %
Direct impact 22,545 39%
Indirect impact 24,438 42%
Induced impact 11,460 20%
TOTAL ECONOMIC IMPACT 58,443 100%
INDUSTRY OUTPUT
(£, MILLION) %
Direct impact 59,653 47%
Indirect impact 50,115 39%
Induced impact 18,426 14%
TOTAL ECONOMIC IMPACT 128,194 100%
EMPLOYMENT (NUMBER) %
Direct impact 423,445 42%
Indirect impact 427,113 42%
Induced impact 165,836 16%
TOTAL ECONOMIC IMPACT 1,016,394 100%
WAGES AND SALARIES
(£, MILLION) %
Direct impact 8,660 34%
Indirect impact 12,774 50%
Induced impact 4,241 17%
TOTAL ECONOMIC IMPACT 25,675 100%
2013 | Page 16
Table 21. Direct, Indirect and Induced Impact on Tax Revenues
Figure 10 illustrates the percentage of total economic impact of
different taxes contributed by meetings activities. The contribu-
tions to income tax, taxes on products and corporation taxes
account for more than 60% of the total economic impact of tax
revenues.
Figure 10. The Composition of Total Contributions
to Different Taxes
5.2.6. Imports
To assess economic leakage, researchers evaluated the propor-
tion of activity that required imports.26 By purchasing products
from suppliers outside the UK for meetings in the UK, the total
import impacts generated were just under £16.1 billion (Table
22). There were £8.7 billion of direct import leakages and £7.3
billion of indirect and induced import leakages generated as a
result of meetings.
Table 22. Direct, Indirect and Induced Impact on Imports
6. CONCLUSIONS
6.1. The Importance of the Meeting Industry in the UK
To acquire a better knowledge of the overall scope and broader
economic contributions of the meeting industry and its associat-
ed activities, researchers collected responses from five stakehold-
er groups representing both the demand and supply sides of the
sector as well as a wide variety of meetings and venue types and
domestic and international attendees and exhibitors. The meet-
ing industry is closely linked to other industries, in particular
tourism-related industries, and also indirectly supports a number
of other non-tourism industries. Meetings contributed £58.7 bil-
lion to the UK GDP and generated 1 million FTEs across various
industries. This contribution puts the meeting industry in 17th
place amongst all industry sectors in the UK and highlights its
significance as well as the critical role it plays in supporting the
UK economy.
£, MILLIONS
DIRECT
IMPACT
INDI-
RECT
IMPACT
INDUCED
IMPACT
TOTAL
ECO-
NOMIC
IMPACT %
Taxes on products 1,907 511 1,975 4,392 21%
Taxes on production 280 227 156 664 3%
Income tax 1,732 2,555 848 5,135 24%
Employee NIC 1,126 1,661 551 3,338 16%
Employer NIC 1,181 1,742 578 3,501 17%
Corporation tax 1,052 2,021 992 4,064 19%
TOTAL TAX REVENUE 7,277 8,716 5,101 21,094 100%
IMPORTS (£, MILLION) %
Direct impact 8,720 54%
Indirect impact 3,950 25%
Induced impact 3,398 21%
TOTAL ECONOMIC IMPACT 16,067 100%
2013 | Page 17
(1) Figure includes attendee spend plus accompanying people spend.
(2) Jones, C.; Munday, M.; and Beynon, M. (2009) “The
embeddedness of tourism-related activity: a regional analysis of
sectoral linkages,” Urban Studies (3).
(3) UNWTO, Measuring the Economic Importance of the Meetings
Industry: Developing a Tourism Satellite Account Extension
(November 2006).
(4) The Economic Significance of Meetings to the U.S. Economy,
prepared by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, January 2011.
(5) The Economic Significance of Meetings to Mexico, prepared by
PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, September 2011.
(6) The Economic Contribution of Meetings Activity in Canada,
prepared by Maritz Research Canada and The Conference Board
of Canada, June 2008.
(7) The non-spending profile of the meeting industry has been
presented in a separate report. Therefore, only the key points are
summarised in this final report. Please refer to the profile report
for more details.
(8) Frechtling, D. (2009). “The tourism satellite account: A primer.”
Annals of Tourism Research. 37 (1): 136 –153.
(9) UNWTO Measuring the Economic Importance of the Meetings
Industry: Developing a Tourism Satellite Account Extension
(November 2006).
(10) Although this study was undertaken prior to the release of the
UNWTO report in 2006, it uses the same method proposed by
UNWTO, as the same authors wrote it.
(11) This includes accompanying persons.
(12) Beaverstock, J., Derudder, F. & Witlox, F. (2010) International
Business Travel in the Global Economy, Farnham: Ashgate Pub
lishing Limited. Friends and family were included in this study
for their spend during stays for delegates, and also for longer
periods following meetings. This aspect is worthwhile, as people
increasingly try to blend personal and professional activities, and
in particular, as business travellers tend to spend more than
leisure visitors.
(13) This UKEIS was conducted in 2012 and estimated the economic
impact for 2011. However, to verify the 2011 estimation, data
were also checked against data collected for 2012 live events.
(14) Jones, C.; Munday, M.; and Beynon, M. (2009) “The
embeddedness of tourism-related activity: a regional analysis of
sectoral linkages,” Urban Studies, 49 (3).
(15) The qualitative data are to be used for a how-to guide for the
industry to enhance economic impact practices.
(16) http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/taxonomy/index.html?nscl=Economic
+Value+of+Tourism
(17) http://www.statistics.gov.uk/hub/economy/national-accounts/
supply-and-use-tables/index.html
(18) Following TSA convention on agency services and margins, this
research reports organiser spend on accommodation and other
services as part of demand, and hence direct impact. An
adjustment was made to avoid double-counting indirect impacts.
(19) The industry must also account for the possibility that non-UK
supply is used to service UK demand and include an adjustment
column, although here, for our meetings commodities, this is
largely not relevant.
(20) Jago, L. and Dwyer, L. (2006). Economic evaluation of special
events: A practitioner’s guide, Altona, Vic.: Common Ground
Publishing.
(21) Matheson, V. (2009). “Economic multipliers and mega-event
analysis,” International Journal of Sport Finance, 4: 63-70.
(22) Li, S.N. and Jago, L. (forthcoming). “Evaluating economic
impact of major sports events—a meta analysis of the
key trends,” Current Issues in Tourism, forthcoming.
(23) This includes spending by people who accompany meetings
attendees.
(24) ROW: Rest of the world.
(25) The latest GVA figures for 2011 will be published in July 2013
by ONS. Please note that the rank of the meetings industry may
change when the latest figures are published. These figures are
estimated by taking GVA by industry in 2010 and multiplying up
by current price growth rates by broad industry group.
(26) This study captures products purchased from suppliers outside
the UK by meetings organisations and venues in the UK, but does
not capture the imported services and products purchased by
meetings attendees due to relevant data not being available.
2013 | Page 18
APPENDICES
Appendix 1. Comparison of National Economic Contribution Studies
DIMENSION
NATIONAL BUSINESS
EVENTS STUDY
THE ECONOMIC CONTRI-
BUTION OF MEETINGS
ACTIVITY IN CANADA
THE ECONOMIC SIGNIFI-
CANCE OF MEETINGS TO
THE US ECONOMY
THE ECONOMIC SIGNIFI-
CANCE OF MEETINGS TO
MEXICO
THE ECONOMIC CON-
TRIBUTION OF MEETING
ACTIVITY IN DENMARK
THE ECONOMIC IMPACT
OF THE UK MEETING
INDUSTRY
Country Australia Canada United States of America Mexico Denmark UK
Year of evaluation 2002 2006 2009 2010 2010 2011
UNWTO Method Underpinned the
UNWTO method Yes Yes Ye s Yes Yes
Venues
Sample of 531 from a
population of 1,620, all
meeting types across a
full year
Sample of 220 from a
sample of 1,517, surveyed
six meeting types
Sample of 440 from a
sample of 6,000
Sample of 66 from a
sample of 314
Sample of 383 from a
sample of 692
457 responses from a
sample of 1,451 and
online panel survey
Delegates Intercept interviews
with 6,668 at events
1,520 from online panels,
asked about one to two
meetings over the last year
2,550 from online
panels, asked about one
to two meetings over the
last year
Sample size unclear, online
survey panel
881 out of the 4,294
interviewed as part of
Visit Denmark’s Tourism
Survey, day delegate data
obtained through another
survey
1,617 total responses
from online panel
surveys, 1,174 domestic
and 443 international
Conference Organis-
ers 161 at events
Sample of 284 from a
population of 12,153 (in-
house and independent)
Sample of 2,700 from a
population of 20,000,
asked about one meet-
ing over the last year.
Sample of 297 from a popu-
lation of 10,533, asked
about one meeting over the
last year
Sample of 223 from a
population of 1,443 21%
548 responses from a
sample of 2,530 and
online panel survey
227 156 664 3% 3%
Exhibitors 843 at events
Sample of 58 from a
sample of 3,127, asked
about 1-2 meetings over
the last year
Sample of 260 from a
sample of 6,500, asked
about 1 meeting over
the last year
N/A N/A
695 total responses
from online panel sur-
veys, 255 domestic and
440 international
Incentive Organisers
(ITOs, DMOs & Ac-
com providers)
Sample of 51 from a
sample of 257, asked
about their last event.
N/A Sample of 110 from a
sample of 500 3,338 16% 16%
Sample of 25 from a
sample of 58 1,742 578 3,501 17% 17%
N/A 33 responses from a
sample of 230 1,975 4,392 21% 21%
Speakers N/A
Sample of 11 from a
sample of 537, asked
about one to two meetings
over the last year
N/A N/A N/A N/A
Live event attendees
and exhibitors N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A 110 responses from
online panel surveys
Number of Events 316K 671K 1.8M 197.4K 187.9K 1.3M
Number of At-
tendees 28.4M 70.2M 204.7M 23.1M 6.9M 116.1M
Direct Expenditure AUD$17.4B CAD$32.2B US$263.4B US$18.1B DKK20.8B £59.7B
Total Output
(Including indirect &
induced)
N/A CAD$71.1B US$907.2B US$32.5B N/A £128.2B
Direct Contribution
to Value Added AUD$6.1B N/A N/A N/A DKK8.5B £20.6B
Total Contribution to
Value Added AUD$11.3B N/A N/A N/A DKK15.3B N/A
Direct Contribution
to GDP N/A CAD$11.3B US$457.9B US$12.1B N/A £22.5B
Total Contribution
to GDP (including
indirect & induced)
N/A CAD$33.7B US$106.1B US$25.1B N/A £58.4B
Total Taxes Gener-
ated N/A CAD$14.6B US$109.8B N/A DKK7.8B £21.1B
Direct Contribution
to Employment 115.6K 235.5K 1.65M 441.3K 25.8K 423.4K
Total Contribution
to Employment
(including indirect &
induced)
213.8K 583.2K 6.3M 783.7K 37.9K 1M
Estimates Provided
by State or Province Yes No No No No Yes (by regions)
2013 | Page 19
Appendix 2. Geographical Distribution of Survey Responses
Within the UK
Appendix 3. Economic Modelling
The Input-Output model provides estimates of the additional eco-
nomic activity (sales, GDP and employment) that is generated by
purchases of goods and services. This research uses the latest UK
Input-Output model (published in 2011 by the Office for National
Statistics), employment rates and wages for 2011 (from the ONS
survey of hours and earnings for 2011), tax rates from 2011 (from
HM Revenue and Customs) and an estimate of the marginal pro-
pensity to consume in the UK (from the Bank of England).
The Input-Output table determines how much of each input
is needed to produce £1 of each output, containing data on the
inputs used by 123 industries in the UK for each of 123 prod-
ucts. It also has data on GDP and the GDP generated in the
production of each product. Input-Output multipliers are derived
from this table for the following levels of economic effects.
• Direct multipliers show the GDP and employment gener-
ated in the meeting industry, and in other firms from which
meeting attendees purchase goods and services. A meeting
organiser is part of direct employment, and his or her income
is part of direct GDP. Similarly, a worker at a hotel where
event participants stay is part of the direct employment, and
such incomes are part of direct GDP.
• Indirectmultipliersdemonstratethebenetsfromspending
spread beyond the firms in which purchases are made, as
these firms purchase products from other firms, which pur-
chase products from other firms, and so on through an entire
supply chain. Jobs and incomes generated in this supply
chain are the indirect effects of the initial spending and occur
in a wide variety of industries around the UK.
• Inducedmultipliersmeasuretheeffectsofspendingand
re-spending of disposable household income generated by
the direct and indirect impacts. When a meeting organiser,
or someone working in the meeting industry supply chain,
has an income because of meetings, they spend part of that
income. Every product they purchase has its own supply
chain in which jobs and income are generated, and every job
and pound of income generated this way also has a further
induced effect.
Direct multipliers have been calculated in this study based on
secondary data including employment rates and wages for 2011
(from the ONS survey of hours and earnings for 2011), tax rates
in 2011 (from HM Revenue and Customs) and an estimate of
the marginal propensity to consume in the UK (from the Bank
of England). The indirect multipliers and induced multipliers are
derived from the Input-Output model. This takes the demand
for products that are involved in staging an event, and those
purchased by event delegates, and determines the resulting de-
mands throughout the supply chains that support them. Through
this input-output model, the indirect effects on sales, GDP and
employment are calculated.
Induced multipliers are also derived through the Input-Out-
put model, with additional data on marginal tax rates and the
marginal propensity to consume (which is the proportion of any
additional income that will be consumed).
Employment effects in the Input-Output model are deter-
mined by taking data on average hours worked and gross wages
for each industry and the resulting wage rate for a standard
37.5-hour week to determine the number of full-time equivalent
jobs supported by every £1 million of wages and salary spend-
ing by each industry. The additional wages and salaries earned
producing each product are derived from additional spending as
part of the Input-Output model, allowing the calculation of full-
time equivalent employment.
The resulting set of multipliers allows the specification of
demand, and will derive the indirect and induced demands for
products as well as the impacts for GDP and employment. It will
also give tax revenues at the indirect and induced stages for
• Taxes (less subsidies) on production. This is typically small in
the UK, as it comprises mainly business rates.
• Taxes (less subsidies) on products, which includes VAT,
excise duties and other indirect taxation. VAT is included,
firstly in that induced spending on products is subject to VAT
where households are purchasing products, and secondly
because there are some small VAT payments on intermedi-
ate products included in the Input-Output table, where, for
example, small firms below the VAT threshold pay VAT on
their inputs.
• Income tax. All labour income is taxed at the marginal rate
of 20% in the input-output model, whether that income is
earned in the indirect or the induced stages. The majority of
income earners face a marginal tax rate of 20%, although
some face higher rates.
• Employees’ national insurance contributions are paid at 13%
on all labour income. As with income tax, while there are
different rates and allowances, the majority of income earn-
ers face a rate of 13% on additional income.
33.1%
6.0%
4.2%
7.1%
9.8%
2.5%
7.3%
1.7%
10.5%
2.6%
4.5% 10.5%
2013 | Page 20
• Employers’ national insurance contributions are also paid at
a variety of different rates. In the Input-Output model, a rate
of 12% is applied, corresponding to the main rate paid on
most income.
• Corporation tax. Corporation tax is applied at 22%, being
an average of the main rate (24% in 2011) and the small firm
rate (20%).
The relationship between gross value added (GVA), compensa-
tion of employees (COE) and gross operating surplus (GOS) is:
• GVA=COE+GOS+taxeslesssubsidiesonproduction.
The relationship between gross domestic product and GVA is:
• GDP=GVA+taxeslesssubsidiesonproducts.
The remaining taxes (income tax, national insurance contribu-
tions and corporation tax) are direct taxes paid on income. This
can be shown as:
• Wagesandsalaries=COE–employernationalinsurance
contributions.
• Netlabourincome=Wagesandsalaries–incometax–em-
ployee national insurance contributions.
• Netcapitalincome=GOS–corporationtax.
• Householddisposableincome=Netlabourincome+net
capital income.
Changes to household disposable income that accrue from direct and
indirect stages are used as the starting point in calculating induced
impacts, with the marginal propensity to consume (MPC) determin-
ing how much of each additional unit of income is consumed.
• Changeinconsumption=MPCxchangeinhousehold
disposable income.
Any change to consumption is broken down into VAT payments,
imports and domestic consumption of each product, from which
the impacts are derived. Additional household disposable income
that results from this calculation once again leads to further
changes in consumption, which have further impacts. The result-
ing changes are all summed together to give the induced impacts.
Appendix 4. A Comparison of Data Used
in Comparable Studies
Appendix 5. Acknowledgements
The research team is pleased to acknowledge the support of the
following organisations for sponsoring this important study.
- Barbican
- Condé Nast
- ExCel London
- IMEX Group
- InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG)
- International Confex
- International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA)
- London & Partners
- Meetings & Incentive Travel
- MPI Foundation
- Q Hotels
- Reed Travel Exhibitions
- Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre (SECC)
- Site International Foundation
- The Meetings Show UK
- Visit Scotland
- Visit Wales
CANADIAN
REPORT US REPORT
MEXICAN
REPORT UK REPORT
Title
The Economic
Contribution
of Meetings
Activity in
Canada
The Economic
Significance
of Meetings
to the US
Economy
The
Economic
Significance
of Meetings
to Mexico
The Eco-
nomic Impact
of the UK
Meeting
and Event
Industry
Data
collection 2006 2009 2010 2011
Responses
received
220 venues
284 meeting
organisers
58
exhibitors
11 speakers
1,520
delegates
Total
2,093
440 venues
2,700 meeting
organisers
110 DMOs
260
exhibitors
2,550
delegates
Total
6,060
66 venues
297 meeting
organisers
25 DMOs
Total
388
457 venues
548 meeting
organisers
33 DMOs
695
exhibitors
1617
delegates
110 live
exhibitors and
attendees
Total
3,460
2013 | Page 21
The research team is pleased to acknowledge the contribution
of the following organisations for their support in distributing
questionnaires to their constituents.
- Association of British Professional Conference
Organisers (ABPCO)
- Belfast Visitor & Convention Bureau
- Cardiff & Co
- Conference and Travel (CAT) Publications
- Confex/UBM
- Edinburgh Convention Bureau
- Edinburgh International Conference Centre
- Emergency Planning College
- Experian
- The World Exhibition for Incentive Travel,
Meetings & Events (IMEX) Group
- InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG)
- Leeds and Partners
- Leeds Metropolitan University
- Leicester Shire Promotions
- London & Partners
- Meetings Industry Association (MIA)
- Meeting Professionals International (MPI)
- Q Hotels
- Site International Foundation
- Tony Rogers Conference & Event Services
- Visit England
- Visit Scotland
- Visit Wales
Secondary data were kindly supplied by the following organisations.
- FaceTime, report co-founded by the Association of Event
Organisers (AEO), the Association of Event Venues (AEV)
and the Event Supplier and Services Association (ESSA)
- Meetings Industry Association (MIA)
- Visit England
The research team thanks the following organisations that took
the time to be part of this study. Their insights are greatly appre-
ciated. Not all participants are included, only those who opted to
be acknowledge.
• AbbeyMountCentre
• ActionforChildren
• ADITVAM
• AFO
• Agilysis
• AGORAOccasions,Inc.
• apsLtd
• AssociationofBritishPhilatelicSocieties
• At-Bristol
• AthenaMeetings&Events
• ATT
• B2BEventManagement
• BanksSadler
• BarbicanCentre
• BarnettHill-ASundialGroupVenue
• BathTourismPlus
• BeardmoreHotel&ConferenceCentre
• BestWesternChilworthManor,Southampton
• BioCityNottingham
• BlueFunnelCruisesLtd.
• BookMeARoom
• BP
• BrintexEvents
• BuildUp
• BuryVenues
• BusinessMeetingsMalta
• BVGGroup
• C.L.InitiativesLtd.
• Capital1
• CardiffConventionBureau
• ChurchHouseConferenceCentre
• CIP
• CitizenLeadersCIC
• ClunyEvents,Fife
• ConferenceResourceLimited
• CongressCentre
• Co-operative
• CrownePlazaLeeds
• CrownePlazaLondon-Kensington
• CrownePlazaManchesterAirport
• DHLawrenceHeritageCentre
• DarentValleyHospital
• DenhamCourtFarm
• DestinationMiltonKeynes
• DestinationSouthamptonLtd.
• DialogSemiconductorLtd.
• DoningtonPark
• Elevate
• EnterpriseCentre
• ESure
• ETA
• EventConcept
• EventDynamicsLtd.
• EventOptions
• ExCeLLondon
• FederationofCommunicationServices
• FitwiseManagementLtd.
• FortyHallBanquetingSuite
• FriendsHouseHospitalityLtd.
• GDSInternational
• GlasgowCityMarketingBureau
• GrandCafe
• GrassRootsEventCom
• GreenHatPeople
• GrosvenorTravel
• HappeningConferences&Events
• HeritageMotorCentre
• High-PointRendel
• HillDickinsonLLP
• HinckleyIslandHotel
• HolidayInnGatwickAirport
• HolidayInnGlasgowAirport
• HolidayInnGloucester-Cheltenham
• HolidayInnHaydock
• HolidayInnM4,J4
• HolidayInnMaidenhead/Windsor
• HolidayInn,ChesterSouth
• HolidayInn,Eastleigh
• HolidayInn,LeedsBrighouse
• HotelduVinGlasgowatOneDevonshireGardens
• Hull&EastYorkshireConferences(partofVisitHull
and East Yorkshire)
• Impropriety
• In2Events
• InstituteforSmallBusinessandEntrepreneurship(ISBE)
• InstituteofHighwayEngineers
• IntelligentEventsLimited
• IPMSUK
• JesusCentre
• JohntheComposter(JohnCossham)
• KabukiProductionsLimited
• KCJonesConference&EventsLtd.
2013 | Page 22
• KeeleConferences&Events
• Keepmoat
• KenningtonVillageHall
• Keytech
• KPMG
• Laura’sHopeFund
• LBG
• LeadershipFoundationforHigherEducation
• LeicesterTigers
• LiverpoolFootballClub
• London&Partners
• MAHLEPowertrainLtd.
• MANDOC
• MarketingBirmingham(MeetBirmingham)
• MarketingBlackpool-VisitBlackpool
• MarriottHotel,Bristol
• MaverickSolutionsUKLtd.
• MCIUKLtd.
• MedicalSchoolDundeeUniversity
• MeetBournemouth
• MidlandHotel,Bradford
• NaeLimits
• NationalCommissioningandContractingTraining
Conference
• NationalExhibitionCentreLtd.
• NationalMuseumsLiverpool
• NewcastleUniversity
• NewcastleGatesheadInitiative
• NorthLincolnshireCouncil
• NorthallertonSamaritans
• NottinghamConferenceCentre
• Obis360Ltd.
• OMG
• OneWimpoleStreet
• Onus
• OriginEvents(Scotland)Ltd.
• OurDynamicEarth
• OutlookCreativeGroup
• OxfordBrookesConferenceServices
• PCWorld
• PerthConcertHall
• PineappleEventsLtd.
• PowwowEvents
• PragueConventionBureau
• PublicHealthWales
• QAA
• rede2Limited
• Regent’sCollege
• RobinsonCollege,Cambridge
• RoyalAirForceMuseum
• RoyalCollegeofPhysicians
• RufetsCountryHouse,St.Andrews
• RussellSquare
• Sci-FiConventionSigners
• SeftonMetropolitanBoroughCouncil
• ShineOn
• SHL
• ShropshireCouncil
• SITA
• SMYLE
• SOS
• SouthWestWater
• SouthportConferences
• St.David’sHall
• StaffordshireCountyCouncil
• SustainableEventsLtd.
• SwarmWorksLtd.
• Talardy
• TFIGroup
• ThameCommunityCar
• ThamesValleyChamberofCommerce
• TheBentleyHotel
• TheBrightonCentre
• TheCustardFactory
• TheHub,Edinburgh’sFestivalCentre
• TheNationalIceCentreandCapitalFMArena
• TheOldSchoolSully
• TheTulip
• TheWarehouse,Somerset
• thosetravelguys
• Topaz
• Touch
• TremoughCampus,Cornwall
• Troxy
• TurnerAgencyLimited
• UBAH
• UniversalWorldEvents
• venuebirmingham
• VictoriaHall
• VisitCountyDurham
• VisitManchester
• VisitWales
• VisitAberdeen
• VisitBrighton
• VisitLanarkshireVenues
• WalesMillenniumCentre
• WarwickConferencesScarmanHouse
• Web
• WelfareSociety
• WelshIntegratedSexualHealthMeeting
• WestGallowayU3A
• WhitesandCo
• WillHall
• YummyMummy
Appendix 6. Sources for Secondary Research
To establish populations, such as the total number of meetings
and the total number of venues, the research team reviewed a
wide range of academic and industry sources. Key secondary
sources that were used to inform the report are identified here.
• Belfast Venue Guide
• BritainforEvents
• BusinesspopulationestimatesfortheUKandRegions
2011 by Department for Business Innovation & Skills,
2011 BVEP report
• Cvent
• Eventia-UKEventsMarketTrendsSurvey2012
• OfceforNationalStatistics
• OxfordEconomics-TheEconomicImpactoftheUK
Exhibitions Industry
• People1st
• TourismIntelligenceUnit
• Venuender.com
• Visitor Economy Facts by VisitBritain
In addition, the research team reviewed previous EIS studies
in the US, Canada, Mexico, Denmark and Australia.
2013 | Page 23
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