HBAA Meetings Barometer reports on first half of 2019

“Good first half year for UK meetings business is set to continue for the rest of 2019”, observes Angie Mason, Chair of HBAA, as HBAA Meetings Barometer reports on first six months of 2019.

“It’s been a good first half of the year for the UK meetings industry and bookings for the rest of the year indicate that this buoyancy will continue until at least the end of the year.”

Angie Mason, Chair of the HBAA sees plenty of good news for the industry in the figures reported in the HBAA Meetings Barometer for the first six months of 2019.

The report, developed in partnership with The MeetingsBenchmark Ltd, reveals that the average spend per meeting had risen by 8.8 per cent to £2,144 from £1,971, the average spend throughout 2018. The average spend per delegate had also increased by 6.7 per cent, from £85.71 in 2018 to £91.46.

The average day delegate rate (DDR) had also risen slightly from £32.89 last year to £33.17 while the average number of delegates has remained the same at 54.

Increasing confidence among event planners is reflected by the reduction of lead and conversion times. The average lead time for forward booking of events has gone down from 79.7 days to 78.3 while the average conversion time went down slightly from 18.5 days last year to 17.9 days so far in 2019.

Looking at forward bookings for July to December, currently the average spend per delegate is up substantially to £116.54. and the average DDR up to £33.90.

Angie Mason, HBAA Chair observed: “The HBAA Meetings Barometer data highlights positive trends in the market and plenty of strong reasons to be optimistic and confident about business in the imminent future.”

To download the full report, please click here.

Ends

Notes to editors

1. These figures cover the period from 1 Jan 2019 to 30 June 2019. They are derived from real time data supplied to The Meetings Benchmark Ltd by a wide cross section of HBAA members.

2. HBAA
HBAA the trade association for the hotel booking agency, apartment and venue community, has more than 300-member organisations including over 80 agency and 225 venue members who work collaboratively in the accommodation, meetings and events sector.

HBAA drives, promotes and models good business between its members. It champions best practice, ethical working and sound commercial judgement, making HBAA membership the mark of quality assurance for the sector. It operates a Code of Practice which assures best practice between agents, hotels and venues.

For further information about the HBAA please contact please contact Jordan Roozpeikar or Chris Lewis at Clareville; email; This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or telephone 020 7736 4022

3. The MeetingsBenchmark Ltd.
The MeetingsBenchmark is a live application that independently benchmarks DDR and 24 hour meeting rates for all types of venue in any location. MeetingsBenchmark aggregates and analyses data from hundreds of thousands of meetings at all types of venues across Europe and internationally.

For further information about The MeetingsBenchmark Ltd, please contact Paul Hussey tel. 07713 278842