Liverpool has experienced a bumper year for international conferences, welcoming thousands of international delegates, including U.S. attendees, to events.
More than 13,000 global delegates have visited the city since October last year, attending 22 events and generating $38.4 million (£24m) in economic impact to the city region.
“While we are pleased to have welcomed thousands of international delegates to the city, this year, we created an international sales team to help us develop further in the international association and corporate markets,” said Kerrin MacPhie, director of sales, ACC Liverpool. “The team will focus on generating universal business to ACC Liverpool along with progressing and managing our destination bids for conferences and events.”
ACC Liverpool, a multipurpose events and convention venue, will host Eurospine, a conference and exhibition attracting 3,500 delegates from Oct. 2-4. The venue will also host the European Society of Gynaecological Oncology, welcoming 3,300 delegates from Oct. 19-22.
Elsewhere in Liverpool, meetings taking place include the European Network for Translational Research in Ovarian Cancer held at Liverpool Women’s Hospital, the International Symposium on the Fundamentals of Computation Theory at the University of Liverpool and the Congress of the European Organisation for Caries Research held at the Hilton Liverpool hotel.
Venturing outside the city, Destination Liverpool – ACC Liverpool and Liverpool Convention Bureau (LCB), which is part of Marketing Liverpool, is preparing to exhibit at IMEX America, a large meetings exhibition to be held in Las Vegas’ Sands Expo from Oct. 15-17. Marketing Liverpool was established to promote the Liverpool brand nationally and internationally.
“IMEX America will give us the opportunity to speak for the first time directly to an American audience about our unique Advantage by ACC Liverpool program, which provides bespoke support for worldwide conference and event organizers,” said MacPhie.
Destination Liverpool will present at IMEX America on Oct.15 at 3 p.m. and Oct.16 at 3:30 p.m. at the VisitEngland stand. Complementing VisitEngland’s royal heritage theme, ACC Liverpool will give away ‘Royal Liverpool Afternoon Tea’ tins to stand visitors. Liverpool Convention Bureau will hold a prize drawing for visitors to win a Liverpool Football Club shirt and goodie bag.
ACC Liverpool, supported by LCB, will host an informal evening dinner for international buyers at the Wynn Las Vegas accompanied by a John Lennon tribute act to bring a ‘Mersey beat’ to Vegas. It will also host a breakfast meeting in partnership with the Global Congress Centre Alliance of which the venue is a member.
After IMEX, Destination Liverpool will provide the latest updates about the UK’s International Festival for Business 2014, a global showcase of the British industry.
“Hosting the International Festival for Business in June and July 2014 on behalf of the UK underlines the confidence we and others have in our destination, and our achievements in attracting the biggest conferences and events,” said Kate Currie, interim general manager, LCB.
Comprising hundreds of events, the festival takes place in Liverpool and the city region over 50 days in June and July 2014. It will attract 250,000 visitors from across the globe and bring £100 million into the UK economy.
