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Meetings sector - UK and London

Delivered July 12th, 2019. Contributors: Gene E., George K. and

Part
01
of two
Part
01

Meetings Industry Market Size - UK

The UK market size for the meeting industry in 2017 was $22.7 billion. However, we were unable to find the market size for later years or specific information on the London market with attention to meetings of 1-20 people. Our findings and an explanation of our research strategy are detailed below.


HELPFUL FINDINGS

  • According to UK Conference and Meeting Survey (UKCAMS), the 2017 market size of UK meetings was GBP £18.1 billion or $22.7 billion USD.
  • In 2017, there were an estimated 92.8 million delegates accounting for approximately 147.4 million delegate days. These delegates generated an estimated £18.1 billion of direct expenditure in venues and the wider destination.
  • According to research, UK Meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions (MICE) sector had a strong start to 2018 with meetings up 10%.
  • According to a 2013 UK Economic Impact Study (UKEIS) report for The Economic Impact of the UK Meeting & Event Industry, Greater London contributed a £5.643 billion Gross Value Added (GVA) in direct meetings activities in England.
  • England contributed £17,544 billion GVA for direct meetings activities for £20,639 billion in the UK overall in 2013.
  • Although it appears behind a paywall, we found that the UKCAMS Conference and Meeting Survey 2019 Report. The report includes an executive summary, introduction, volume and value of the conference and meetings market plus its dimensions and characteristics, international business, expectations and trends, market insights, venue analysis, and methodology.


RESEARCH STRATEGY

Strategy #1

We started our research by examining both Amex and Cvent for any information on the market size of the meeting industry in the UK. On Cvent, we are able to find a lead for the UK market size of meetings industry which they cited the report of UK Conference and Meeting Survey (UKCAMS), which has a publicly available report for UK meetings market size for 2017. However, the market size report was for the UK overall, no breakdown to exclude the London market share and it is not specific for meetings for 1-20 attendees. While on Amex, we are able to find their 2019 Global Meetings and Events Forecast which has breakdown per region. Here too there was no market size for the UK meetings that excluded the market for London and specific market size for 1-20 meeting attendees. What we find are some non-relevant breakdown data percentage such as days per meeting, cost per attendee, meetings activity by type, etc. by country in Europe.


Strategy #2

Next, we switched gears and tried consulting industry sources that provide market size reports and market analysis for UK meetings markets such as UK Conference and Meeting Survey (UKCAMS), Business Visits and Events Partnership (BVEP), Allied Market Research, PRNewswire, Exhibition News UK, EventBrite UK, HBAA and many others. Also, here, the only market size we found was the 2017 UK meetings overall from UKCAMS (the 2018 and 2019 report were not publicly available and was blocked by paywall request), and the growth of UK meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibition (mice) for 2018.


Strategy #3

As a final strategy, we tried to triangulate the data to provide specific information on the excluded market of London for UK meeting market size. By searching Economic Impact of meetings industry in UK and Europe that aims to find the market share per region, country or cities specific for 1-20 attendees without success, the only report we find here that has market share of London for UK meetings market is from 2013 most recent report of UK Economic Impact Study (UKEIS) for the Economic Impact of the UK Meeting & Event Industry which has the contributed share breakdown of Gross Value Added (GVA) for direct meetings activities of London in England. Since 2013 is outdated data, we are unsuccessful to triangulate the data to exclude the London share for UK meetings market size, because we did not consider the data as still relevant.
Part
02
of two
Part
02

Meetings Industry - London

While there is limited information pertaining to the market size and the growth of the meetings industry in the U.K., especially for meetings for 1-20 people, the research team used the available information to calculate the following estimates: the market size of the meetings industry in London for meetings for 1-20 people declined by about 29.7% from approximately $3.5 billion in 2011 to $2.4 billion in 2018. The figures below should be treated as estimates. The explanation of the methodology as well as the assumptions and calculations are detailed in the 'Research Strategy' section.

USEFUL FINDINGS

Market Size

2011

  • Based on data from a 2013 ResearchGate report, the market size of the meetings industry in London was approximately £7,290,000,000 in 2011. (See Calculation I)
  • The approximate market size of the meetings for 1-20 people in London in 2011 would be about £2,770,200,000 or $3,473,938,700 (converted). (See Calculation II)

2018

  • Based on the data from UKCAMS, in 2018, the approximate market size of the meetings industry in London was about £5,124,000,000. (See Calculation III)
  • The approximate market size of the meetings for 1-20 people in London in 2018 would be about £1,947,120,000 or $2,441,816,562 (converted). (See Calculation IV)

Growth

  • The market size of the meetings industry in London for meetings for 1-20 people declined by about 29.7% from 2011 to 2018. (See Calculation V)

RESEARCH STRATEGY

To provide the market size and the growth of the meetings industry in London, we began our research by searching through Amex and Cvent for any readily available information. We found a report by Cvent citing data from a 2017 survey by the UK Conference and Meeting Survey (UKCAMS), which provides the market size for the meetings industry in the United Kingdom. However, there was no further breakdown providing the market size and the growth of the meeting industry for 1-20 people in London. While Amex features the 2019 Global Meetings and Events Forecast, it does not provide any information specific to London or meetings for 1-20 people.
Next, we leveraged industry-specific sites such as UKCAMS, EventBrite UK, Business Visits and Events Partnership (BVEP), Visit Britain, and HBAA. Also, we tried to leverage U.K. government statistics resources including the Office for National Statistics (ONS), market research resources such as ResearchGate and Mintel, as well as press releases sites including PR Newswire. A further exploration of the UKCAMS databases produced reports detailing the market sizes of the United Kingdom meetings industry from 2014 to 2018; however, there was still no further breakdown providing the market size and the growth of the meeting industry for 1-20 people in London. Visit Britain provides insights on the number of people who visited the United Kingdom for 1-20-people meetings but there is no data for London and, also, the data is for visitors to the U.K. and not the total number of attendees. A 2013 ResearchGate report provides data for the market size of the meetings industry in 2011 as well as a breakdown of the number of meetings in London and other cities. Another report by Visit Britain provides an approximate market share of London's meetings industry as compared to the overall U.K. meetings industry. While the resources garnered in our second strategy are relevant to our investigation on the London meetings industry, they do not provide any information that would enable us to determine the market size and growth of the meetings in London specifically for 1-20 people.

Third, we tried searching through U.K.-based media resources such as The Times, The Independent, and BBC News as well as international news sites such as Forbes, CNN, and Reuters. We also looked for any academic journals or studies that may provide useful insights on the subject. However, there was still nothing specific to the market size of the meetings in the United Kingdom held by/for 1-20 people.

As a last resort, we decided to use the garnered information to triangulate the data for the overall market size and growth of the meetings industry in London in order to provide a general overview of the meetings market in the city. We believe that the data for the meetings for 1-20 people in London is missing because research has only been conducted for the overall meetings market. From the 2013 ResearchGate report, we found an estimate of the percentage of meetings for 1-20 people. The said percentage correlates with the percentage of people who attended 1-20-people meetings as per the 2018 Visit Britain report.

We, therefore, used the percentage to calculate the approximate market size and the growth of the meetings industry in London with respect to meetings for 1-20 people. It should be noted that the two percentages as well as some figures used in our calculations are estimates and, so, the final figures should be treated as such. The following are our calculations based on the available findings.

CALCULATIONS

Calculation I

In 2011, the market size of the U.K. meetings market was £22.5 billion with London accounting for about 32.4% of the total number of meetings. Assuming that the number of meetings is directly proportional to the size of revenue generated, then the market size of the meetings industry in London in 2011 would be 32.4% X £22,500,000,000 = £7,290,000,000.

Calculation II

According to ResearchGate, the market size for conferences and conventions was 38.9% in 2011, business meetings 38%, and others (other meeting types, exhibitions, incentive events, trade shows, e.t.c.) 23.1%. Taking business meetings as a representation of the 1-20-people meetings segment of the meetings industry in London, then the market size of the meetings for 1-20 people in London in 2011 would be 38% X £7,290,000,000 = £2,770,200,000 or $3,473,938,700 (converted).

Calculation III

According to UKCAMS, in 2018, the market size of the U.K. meetings market was £18.3 billion with London accounting for about 28% of the total number of meetings. Assuming that the number of meetings is directly proportional to the size of revenue generated, then the market size of the meetings industry in London = 28% X £18,300,000,000 = £5,124,000,000.

Calculation IV

According to a 2018 Visit Britain report, about 9.2 million people visited the U.K. for various types of meetings with about 3.5 million (38%) visiting for meetings for fewer than 20 people while 771,000 visited for conferences and exhibitions. Taking the percentage of visitors visiting for meetings for 1-20 people as a representation of the percentage of such meetings that took place in London in the same period, then the market size of the meetings for 1-20 people in London in 2018 = 38% X £5,124,000,000 = £1,947,120,000 or $2,441,816,562 (converted).
Calculation V
Taking the approximate market size in 2011 ($3,473,938,700) as 100%, then the approximate market size in 2018 ($2,441,816,562) would be about 70.3% of the initial market size.

Did this report spark your curiosity?

Sources
Sources
From Part 01

Your Complete Guide to Conference Management - Cvent

blog.cvent.com
Publication Year: 2019

BVEP - Business Visits and Events Partnership - New Research Reveals An Evolving UK Meetings Market

businessvisitsandeventspartnership.com
Publication Year: 2018

UK MICE sector has strong start to 2018 with meetings up 10%, finds research

citmagazine.com
Publication Year: 2018
i

London Meeting market size

iccaworld.org
Publication Year: 2013

Order A Report

ukcams.org.uk
Publication Year: 2019

USD per 1 GBP - Past 24 hrs

xe.com
Publication Year: 2019
From Part 02

News about UKCAMS

ukcams.org.uk
Publication Year: 2019
a

2019 Global Meetings and Events Forecast

amexglobalbusinesstravel.com
Publication Year: 2018

Business visits & events

visitbritain.org
Publication Year: 2019

(PDF) The Economic Impact of the UK Meeting & Event Industry (commissioned by Meeting Professionals International Foundation)

researchgate.net
Publication Year: 2013
v

VisitBritain REPORT Business Events Research Modules 1 & 3

visitbritain.org
Publication Year: 2018

USD per 1 GBP - Past 24 hrs

xe.com
Publication Year: 2019