Business Tourism Impacts

Question: What is the value of business tourism events to the UK economy?

VisitEngland (VE) and VisitScotland (VS) provide support to tourism organisations and event organisers to attract large events (such as conferences) to their area. This includes work on bids, funding advice and tradeshow marketing opportunities. The two agencies wanted to understand the economic impact of business tourism and to have better intelligence on what types of support and events generate the greatest results.

Solution: a tailored model to estimate impacts and fill information gaps

Regeneris developed an economic impact model, informed by surveys on events, alongside industry benchmark data. This model was used to capture information and produce measures of jobs and gross value added by each event and to assess the impact generated by different packages of support.

Impact: intelligence-based priority setting and clearer accountability

Our analysis found that the two agencies secured just under 240 business tourism events. This led to around 135,000 visitors and their support generated a net additional GVA of £77m for the UK economy. Visit Scotland and Visit England can use this model to update and monitor the impact of their ongoing business tourism work