Influential travel buyers and bookers enjoy Best of Birmingham.

Hyatt Regency Birmingham welcomed over 100 VIPs from the international travel industry as part of the hotel chain’s prestigious Hyatt Fair global sales event.

Guests enjoyed a range of activities around the region as part of last week’s three-day event, which is traditionally held at European coastal resorts such as Thessaloniki in Greece, which hosted the event in 2013.

Hyatt Fair is an annual gathering of representatives from Hyatt hotels around the world and key corporate, meetings and leisure travel buyers from across the UK. Birmingham was the only city outside London to be included on the itinerary.

Mario Flanagan, general manager at Hyatt Regency Birmingham, said: “This was a fantastic opportunity for both the hotel and city region – the event sees millions of pounds of business being transacted for the year ahead and is a great opportunity to really showcase the city’s tourism offer to probably the most influential group of decision makers in this sector.”

After a champagne breakfast, the VIPs visited the Jaguar Land Rover Experience at the Heritage Motor Centre, Gaydon, took a tour of Warwick Castle, before arriving at Hyatt Regency Birmingham for a ‘Best of Birmingham’ showcase.

Guests were entertained by dancers from Aston Performing Arts Academy and met acclaimed Birmingham artist Willard Wigan; Cadbury, Purity Ales and Itihaas restaurant were among local companies showcasing at the event.

Ian Taylor, Commercial Director of Marketing Birmingham – which operates the city’s leisure and business tourism programmes, Visit and Meet Birmingham – as well as inward investment programme Business Birmingham, said: “Tourism is a huge part of our success as a city – Birmingham’s visitors contribute more than £5billion every year to our local economy. To host such an important event as the Hyatt Fair demonstrates the city region’s international reputation and huge potential. Attracting such prestigious visitors and events will help us boost our profile and economy even further.”