Birmingham’s events sector in good voice for major meetings exhibition

The city’s newest venue The Vox to be showcased at The Meetings Show – one of the country’s leading business tourism events.

The Vox

Meet Birmingham, the city’s official business tourism programme, is to offer event professionals a glimpse into the region’s conferencing future this week as it teams up with its newest conferencing venue The Vox at The Meetings Show (London’s Olympia, 8th-10th July).

The Vox Conference Centre opens next year as part of the city’s new £150million integrated leisure complex Resorts World Birmingham. The venue forms part of Meet Birmingham’s ‘15 in 15’ listing – 15 highlights of a busy 2015 city calendar, which also includes the completion of the £600 million redevelopment of New Street station and the £26 million refurbishment of live entertainment venue the National Indoor Arena.

The Meetings Show is a major event for the UK inbound and outbound meetings industry, featuring more than 460 individual exhibitors, which range from destinations and venues to technology and meetings services. At the exhibition’s debut in 2013, Meet Birmingham generated event leads, which could secure more than 5,000 bed nights for the city, with a predicted economic impact of more than £1million.

Ian Taylor, Commercial Director of Marketing Birmingham, the city’s strategic marketing partnership that operates Meet Birmingham, said: “A clear presence at exhibitions such as The Meetings Show is crucial. With a 25% increase in pre-scheduled appointments at this year’s exhibition compared to 2013, it demonstrates that more industry professionals than ever are keen to find out about Birmingham’s reputation as a dynamic, confident and welcoming events destination.

“These are exciting times for the city’s business tourism sector. With a number of significant developments nearing completion – including Resorts World Birmingham and New Street station – we are providing even more convincing reasons why organisers should locate their next event in Birmingham.”

Meet Birmingham will also be joined at The Meetings Show by leading conference and events venue the ICC, which welcomes over 300,000 national and international delegates to around 400 events every year. This autumn, the venue will host its fourth Conservative Party Conference since 2008.

Meet Birmingham will be inviting delegates to enjoy a buffet of one of the city’s most famous creations – Cadbury’s chocolate. Event attendees will also have the chance to win a luxury break in Birmingham, including accommodation at the Hyatt Regency hotel and a taster menu in one of the city’s four Michelin Star restaurants, as part of a prize draw.