Bath tourism chiefs are expecting an increase in lucrative conference and corporate events in the city following the launch of a new inquiry handling and booking service.
Bath Venue Finder is an online service targeting the international meetings, incentive travel, conferences and events (MICE) sector. It allows corporate event organisers to search for a choice of venues in the destination that meet their requirements.
It is supported by a manned hotline provided by established Chippenham-based venue finding agency Brief2Event.
The dedicated team aim to provide an efficient service helping organisers to choose the right venue but also to help with event and itinerary planning.
The website has been completely revamped to facilitate a quick and easy service with comprehensive details on Visit Bath member venues and services. The service can be used by direct bookers and agencies.
Bath Tourism Plus aims to use Bath Venue Finder to attract more corporate events from the meetings, incentive travel, conferences and events (MICE) market from UK and overseas.
In 2016 Bath attracted 177,000 staying business visitor trips from the UK and overseas, bringing in a total spend of around £40m. But as business visitors tend to spend far more than tourists, attracting more to the city could give its economy a major boost.
Bath’s international profile as a World Heritage spa city will be promoted in the MICE market along with its range of heritage and contemporary facilities, including its cultural events, world-class heritage, exclusive facilities and activities.
Visit Bath business tourism coordinator Gaynor Thomas said: “Visit Bath and its steering group of local venues recognised the need to provide such a service to support event organisers.
“Previously organisers had to contact individual businesses to seek availability – we are now offering a central service which is geared up to address their needs. As a result of the new service we expect to see growth in the business tourism sector.”
Brief2Event managing director Guy Mason added: “I am delighted to be able to bring Brief2Event’s expertise and industry knowledge to this new service. Our team’s local product knowledge will also help to provide the best solution for the corporate event organiser seeking a location in and around Bath for a successful event.”
