‘Good first half of 2019’ for UK meetings business

It’s been a good first half of the year for the UK meetings industry, with bookings for the rest of the year indicating that this buoyancy will continue until at least the end of 2019.

That’s the view of Angie Mason, Chair of the HBAA, which 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, reveals that the average spend per meeting had 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.

Mason added: “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.” 

Image by Free-Photos from Pixabay