Best of Britain & Ireland – www.bobi.org.uk – the UK’s premier trade event for tourism professionals from England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales – has announced today (Tuesday 8 October 2013) that it is to widen its traditional travel leisure offering to include the business event, conference, venue and meetings sectors.
“With the majority of exhibitors to Best of Britain & Ireland in the hotel, venue, destinations and attractions market, the initiative is a natural progression for the show,” said Group Managing Director, Expo Management, Mark Griffin.
“This move has been a key component of the company’s strategy for the past two years. Research with the event’s 300 plus exhibitors has shown that 60% of current exhibitors are looking to gain conference and events business and only 20 of them attended Confex in London earlier this year.
“There is demand for a domestic trade event covering both the leisure travel and meetings and event sectors that is exclusively concerned with the UK and Ireland markets; one that is already established, an event of choice based in the heart of England. It is time again for the meetings and events industry to have a presence in Birmingham at The NEC. It is a win win situation for everyone as we aim to give exhibitors increased value for money from their investment.”
2014 exhibitors who have welcomed this move by organisers Expo Management Ltd include Tourism Ireland and De Vere Venues.
Vanessa Markey, Head of Great Britain, Tourism Ireland commented: “We welcome this exciting development. Tourism Ireland has a large number of hotels and venue who already participate in the show and I am sure that they will be excited at the potential extra business opportunities which hopefully this brings.”
Ian Jones, Director Group Sales De Vere Venues said: “As a key player in the conference, business events and meetings sector, we think that this is very positive news. We have supported the show through a number of hosted initiatives and we look forward to working with the organising team to make the show even more of a success.”
Best of Britain & Ireland 2014 aims to attract around 3,000 attendees with around 500 coming from the meetings and events sector.
Also commenting on the news Stephen Richards, Venue Sales Director at The NEC said: “The NEC is delighted to support this development of the Best of Britain and Ireland – recognising the importance of the corporate meetings business to the success of venues and destinations. Our central location means venues from across the UK and Ireland have a great opportunity to meet the kind of relevant buyers that are not attending the London events.”
Best of Britain & Ireland 2014 takes place from 12 – 13 March 2014 at The NEC, Birmingham.
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