Almost three-quarters of UK conference venues report that business is up, according to the findings of the British Association of Conference Destination's (BACD) Venue Survey 2005.

 

BACD's annual survey seeks to measure the key characteristics of the UK conference market from a venue perspective, and to provide the best possible estimates for volume and value aspects of the market.

 

The latest survey, conducted across all conference desks and venues in the UK , reports an average 421 conferences per venue in 2004. Based on 3500 venues nationwide this equates to a total 1.47m UK conferences in 2004.

 

This is an increase of almost 10 percent over BACD's survey for the preceding year.

 

Other key findings:

 

• Hotels averaged 525 conferences, with conference/training venues even higher at an average of 622
• Venue income was £12.9 billions (est.) excluding additional delegate spend. The majority (83 percent) of this was generated by residential conferences.
• This estimate is a 67 percent increase on last year's BACD survey which reported £7.7bn
• Average conference duration 1.7 days, although most (62 percent) lasted a day or less
• Peak months were March, September, October and November.
• Average daily delegate rate achieved by venues was £35.89 inc VAT.
• Average 24hr/residential rate was £158.15 inc. VAT
• About one-third of conference venue events were residential – up on the previous year. A further 10 percent had delegates over- nighting offsite.
• About one-third of conferences were booked by professional organisers or venue-finders
• Non-profit organisations generated a third of conferences
• Average conference size was 54 delegates. This is a big increase on the last survey's average of 37 delegates

BACD chief executive, Tony Rogers commented: "Overall, this report shows encouraging trends for the UK conference industry. Business is up, and destinations are optimistic about the future. The report records a substantial jump in total conference income which we attribute to three factors – more conferences, more ‘delegates per conference', and an increase in residential conferences.”