“It’s been a good first half of the year for the UK
meetings industry and bookings for the rest of the year indicate that this
buoyancy will continue until at least the end of the year.”
Angie
Mason, Chair of the HBAA sees plenty of good news for the industry in the
figures reported in the HBAA Meetings Barometer for the first six months of 2019.
The
report, developed in partnership with The MeetingsBenchmark Ltd, reveals that the
average spend per meeting had risen by 8.8 per cent to £2,144 from £1,971, the average
spend throughout 2018. The average spend per delegate had also increased by 6.7
per cent, from £85.71 in 2018 to £91.46.
The
average day delegate rate (DDR) had also risen slightly from £32.89 last year
to £33.17 while the average number of delegates has
remained the same at 54.
Increasing confidence among event planners is
reflected by the reduction of lead and conversion times. The
average lead time for forward booking of events has gone down from 79.7 days to
78.3 while the
average conversion time went down slightly from 18.5 days last year to 17.9 days so far in
2019.
Angie
Mason, HBAA Chair observed: “The HBAA Meetings Barometer data highlights
positive trends in the market and plenty of strong reasons to be optimistic and
confident about business in the imminent future.”
