HBAA predicts UK meetings business to continue to soar

0
1358

“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, revealed that the average spend per meeting has 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 from18.5 days last year to 17.9 days so far in 2019. 

Looking at forward bookings for July to December, currently the average spend per delegate is up substantially to £116.54 and the average DDR up to £33.90.

Angie 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.” 

Molly Hookings
Author: Molly Hookings

Molly joined the editorial team in March 2019. She has several years’ experience working in broadcast and journalism, as well as marketing and PR. Past experience includes working for the BBC and independent publishing houses. If you have a story you think Molly might be interested in, please email: molly@eventindustrynews.com