Member Article

Sheffield business tourism worth up to £117.3 million

Business tourism in Sheffield is on the up according to a new independent report.

The annual UK Events Market Trends Survey carried out by Team Tourism, showed a second year of consecutive growth with the figure up from £103 million in 2012 to £117.3 million in 2013.

Other findings from the report showed the amount of business generated from outside the Yorkshire region had increased for Sheffield, rising from 25% in 2012 to 32% for 2013.

The increasing importance of the association sector in Sheffield was also highlighted, accounting for 27% of business in Sheffield, significantly higher than the average of 19% in the rest of the UK.

Buoyancy in the sector was further evidenced by 65% of businesses predicting further increases in 2014, the most optimistic businesses have been in 5 years.

The news has been welcomed by Marketing Sheffield who operate a number of long term initiatives specifically focused on increasing business tourism.

Brendan Moffett, director of Marketing Sheffield said: “These figures highlight Sheffield’s growing reputation as a great venue for conferences and meetings.

“Our particular focus on targeting association business is clearly paying off and we are constantly bidding on future events using leads generated by our Conference Ambassador Programme’.

The news comes off the back of our most successful successful MADE Festival to date and we look forward to celebrating this at the annual Ambassador Dinner later this month“

The city was also given a boost in profile last month as the city hosted MADE: The Entrepreneur Festival in association with the BE Group, welcoming over 3,000 delegates.

Despite a strong performance in Sheffield, elsewhere in South Yorkshire the report showed a downturn on 2012 levels, especially within the hotel sector.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Clare Burnett .