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uk

The Conference, Exhibition and Event Environment

BTEC National Travel and Tourism

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Introduction
Conferences, exhibitions and events are a very large part of the travel and tourism market. Just the UK conference, trade fair and exhibition sectors are thought to be worth more than 10 billion per year. It is a high quality, high yield part of the travel and tourism industry.

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Value and Benefits

The sector lengthens the high season for many leisure tourism destinations in UK It is a year-round sector Investment by regions to attract business from this sector can regenerate areas suffering industrial decline. Places battle to host major events place marketing

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Types of Event
Product launches Awarenessraising events Annual conferences Trade fairs Business meetings Corporate hospitality Sales exhibitions Fund-raising events
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Types of Venue
Purpose-built centres (see list in Activity) Hotels often have dedicated conference and business meeting facilities Academic institutions often host specialist conferences Sports venues are increasingly attractive

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Suppliers to the Sector

Conference organisers Exhibition organisers Venue-finding agencies Audio-visual suppliers Catering companies IT specialists Security personnel providers
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Buyers in the Sector

Companies seeking venues for business meetings, events and conferences. Associations and trade bodies. Governmental organisations. Charities and other not-for-profit bodies.
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Major Trends and Issues

The growing popularity of unusual venues shows the need for impact events. Organisations relying more on venue-finding agencies as the sector grows. The growth of importance of budget-level facilities.
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The Future
One of the main trends is the growth of video-conferencing as: Technology allows real-time networking at a distance Equipment costs and line charges fall (ISDN etc) Organisations become more environmentally-aware
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Key Question
Will technology (the Internet, video-conferencing and conference-calling) ever replace the need for business events, conferences and exhibitions?

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