UNITED KINGDOM: Birmingham Is UK’s Top Destination

Cvent, a global event management company, listed Birmingham 22nd in its second annual ranking of more than 2,500 EMEA cities, based on event booking activity through the firm’s supplier network. Activity was tracked from 1st January to 31st December 2015, with criteria including how often a destination is searched for by Cvent clients and the total number of room nights generated by events.

Birmingham moved up one place to 22nd in Cvent’s top 25 rankings, overtaking its nearest UK rival Manchester (23rd). The top five comprised London, Barcelona, Amsterdam, Paris and Berlin.

Emma Gray, director of Marketing and Communications at Meet Birmingham, the city’s business tourism programme, commented:“Birmingham’s position as the preferred UK meetings destination outside London is further evidence of the consistent hard work of our venues and partners to provide the best possible experience for our many event visitors.

“It is also testament to the continued, significant investment being made to enhance Birmingham’s business tourism sector. Events play a vital role in the city’s visitor economy, which hit an all-time high of £6.2 billion in 2015. By launching new spaces including the Vox Conference Centre and accommodation providers such as Park Regis – together with redeveloped transport hubs New Street station and Birmingham Airport – we’re ensuring we remain attractive to this valuable market.”

Cvent monitors approximately 230,000 hotels, resorts and event venues in 175 countries worldwide through its Supplier Network database. The company has 16,000 customers and 2,000 employees across the globe.

The news comes as it revealed that Birmingham welcomed more than one million international visitors for the first time in 2015, according to the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The 163,000 increase (17.3%) in foreign guests was the largest for any city outside London.