More than two thousand years ago the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle wrote that ‘a great city is not to be confounded with a populous one’. The same intelligent thinking can equally apply to today’s MICE industry, yet when choosing destinations for an event meeting planners remain invariably drawn to the more populous cities, most often being national capitals that are already lavished with the profile ? not to mention the funding ? to help attract events.
Many second tier and even lower level cities around the world, however, have in recent years been showing that with the right blend of attractions and regional cooperation supported by a solid strategy to attract MICE events, they are increasingly able to walk tall amongst the world’s renowned MICE giants. In the UK two prime examples of achieving such MICE success are the historic university city of Cambridge and the northern industrial twin-city approach taken by NewcastleGateshead.
“In marketing Cambridge as a MICE destination we have to play to our strengths,” explained Kelly Vickers, Director of Conference Cambridge. “Cambridge is a small, compact city and this works in our favour, as we can market the city as the venue ? our meeting spaces and conference facilities are all within a very small area, making it easy to walk between venues, and in some cases the distance is actually less than in some of the larger convention centres around.”
“We have also worked with our venues to agree on a standard set of terms and conditions to make it easier for clients to contract with multiple venues,” she continued. “It means that clients can mix and match venues ? for example, a modern meeting facility with a medieval dining Hall and historical, inspirational spaces for breakouts.”
“For incentives we market Cambridge as an interesting and unique product that can be ‘bolted on to’ a stay in London or elsewhere,” added Vickers. “Private dining experiences, exclusive access to the city’s historic museums for drinks receptions and access to expert speakers at the University are all popular. Some groups also quite like the ‘back to college’ experience and are happy to stay in University accommodation, which we have in abundance during the University’s vacation periods.”
As a globally recognised university and popular knowledge-based destination, Cambridge has a number of distinct USPs that Conference Cambridge are tapping into to elevate its MICE standing.
“Cambridge is very accessible, less than an hour from central London and only 30 minutes from London Stansted Airport and with other London airports within a 2-hour drive,” said Vickers. “It is a historic city with beautiful, architecturally significant buildings, wide open spaces and an eclectic mix of venues to suit all types of event, and the University of Cambridge is at the cutting edge of science and technological research, making the city a magnet for companies from the biomedical and high technology sectors.”
“Our current strategy, then, is to market Cambridge to organisers in London as an alternative meeting destination ? away days are particularly popular, as Cambridge offers a place to ‘escape to’ that doesn’t involve too much travelling time ? and our academic credentials enable us to market Cambridge as a knowledge destination,” she added. “To deliver our strategy we think cooperation is important and we are active members of GANG (The Great Ambassador Networking Group), which comprises destinations, venues and PCOs involved in running and managing ambassador programmes throughout the UK and Ireland. We share best practice, tips and ideas and, unlike the case of international associations, there isn’t competition, as rotation ensures that it’s unlikely that a destination would be chosen again if it has already hosted the conference.
“Further to this we also sit on the Meetings Industry Association (MIA) Destinations group, which has a wider remit in looking at the whole of the events sector across the UK,” she continued. “It’s quite an open group and we are in competition with other destinations in it, but we feel the rewards of being actively involved outweigh any negatives surrounding potential lost business. It can also help because clients can be referred between destinations if it’s clear that a specific destination isn’t suitable for a particular event.”
Whilst Cambridge’s MICE status within the UK has been raised by taking forward this strategy, in the far north-eastern corner of England another set of factors has been behind the strategy of NewcastleGateshead’s own success in attracting MICE events.
“We’ve taken a fresh approach to attracting events to the North East with a smarter business tourism strategy that’s intrinsically linked with the area’s inward investment strategy,” said Paul Szomoru, Head of Business Tourism at the NewcastleGateshead Convention Bureau. “We work very closely with our inward investment team, tapping into their business knowledge and networks to help attract meetings, conferences and events to the area. The NewcastleGateshead Convention Bureau also works with partners from across the business tourism industry in North East England to promote NewcastleGateshead as a leading UK conference destination.”
Aligning the MICE strategy with inward investment, the focus for NewcastleGateshead is on the three key sectors of ‘creative and digital’, ‘science and healthcare’, and ‘offshore and marine’, three areas in which the region has both economic strength and academic excellence.
“By hosting conferences in these areas we can showcase how well we do business, our industry expertise and the infrastructure available to businesses looking to expand or relocate here,” explained Szomoru. “The bureau also actively targets trade associations and non-profit organisations and we work closely with the region’s universities to attract more events through our Conference Ambassador Programme (CAP) that was launched back in 2002 and then re-launched with Newcastle University in 2014 to build momentum and engage with new ambassadors.”
Understanding and promoting the strength of the region has in this case been delivered through the strength of partnership, bringing the assets of two main regional cities together in a cooperation that has created a far stronger united MICE offer.
“This has been vital to the success,” said Szomoru. “Since the partnership formally began in 2000 and NewcastleGateshead Initiative’s role was to lead a campaign to become European Capital of Culture, it has been widely recognised that there are big dividends in combining Newcastle and Gateshead’s assets into a winning package. Completely rethinking the way we work with meetings and industry professionals ? from the services the bureau delivers to our approach to promoting the destination ? has helped us to make a significant contribution to our local and regional economies.”
“There is also huge support at both local and regional level for NewcastleGateshead as a MICE destination and every pound invested, from the public or private sector, leverages wider support and investment, making budgets, campaigns and activity stretch that much further, driving economic benefit for the wider area,” he added. “Over the last few years, the conference and meetings industry here has grown from strength to strength.”