Bournemouth Releases Robust Business Tourism Figures

The latest statistics, based on the UK Tourist Board’s Estimate of Delegate Expenditure, show that the Bournemouth International Centre (BIC) and Bournemouth Pavilion inject £65m annually into the local economy through business tourism. Combined with smaller meetings in Bournemouth’s hotels and other venues, the overall economic benefit of Bournemouth’s business tourism is valued at £115m.

The team at the BIC and Pavilion calculate the economic benefit that the venues bring to Bournemouth annually. Peter Gunn, Managing Director explains: “These are robust figures considering the downturn of the economy. Since the BIC’s redevelopment nearly five years ago business tourism in the area has grown over 3%, which is substantial when you are dealing with hundreds of millions. As the green shoots start to appear and the economy stabilises, we expect that growth to return and our figures to increase again.”

The calculations for April 2008 to March 2009 showed that the BIC and Pavilion attracted over 66,000 conference delegates and nearly 42,000 exhibition visitors, equating to a total of 220,500 overnight stays for the year! The average length of delegates stay was 2.9 days. For the wider Bournemouth hotels and meeting space it was 2.2 days; which is an increase from the previous year. Growth in a recession is a very positive indicator.

In order to calculate the business tourism figure, an average spend per delegate is used. Peter Gunn adds: “Calculating our economic benefit is a key annual performance indicator. It is also an ideal way of demonstrating to local residents, as well as the wider national conference and exhibition industry, how much Bournemouth’s economy is boosted by conference and exhibition business and event tourism.

“The business we attract to the town has a massive knock-on effect on the hotel industry, in terms of overnight stays, facilitating smaller conference and exhibition events, as well as contributing to employment in Bournemouth’s thriving tourism, hospitality, retail and leisure sectors. It is estimated that nearly 2,500 jobs in these sectors are sustained as a result of business at both the BIC and Pavilion and over 4,000 when you take into account the wider business tourism figures for Bournemouth as a whole.”

Based on over 158,000 delegates at residential and non-residential events, a further £50m is contributed to the town’s economy through meetings in hotels and other venues. “The BIC is the largest conference, exhibition and event venue on the South Coast. Lots of the Bournemouth venues benefit from bolt on work from larger conferences and exhibitions at the BIC,” says Karina Gregory, Bournemouth International Conference Bureau (BICB) Manager. She adds “to attract over 100,000 non-residential delegates and nearly 60,000 residential delegates in the last year shows that Bournemouth is a major player in the meetings industry and has proven that our offering can weather the tough times we have seen.”