Wednesday 20 August 2008

London Event Buyers Jump in at the Deep End

Hull and East Yorkshire (HEY) Conferences and partners hosted day two of a special visit to Yorkshire for 25 London based event and conference organisers who arrived in Hull to see a showcase of event venues in March. 

The visitors, carefully selected by Yorkshire Tourist Board, travelled first class direct from London Kings Cross to Hull Interchange courtesy of Hull Trains. A special dive show and drinks reception at The Deep was followed by a dinner and evening of entertainment at the Village Hotel & Leisure Club. The buyers were then taken by EYMS luxury coach for a hard hat tour and sneak peak of The Spa Bridlington, which is undergoing a multi-million pound refurbishment that will offer capacity of 3500 for standing events and 650 seated when it opens in May 2008.

Liz Neal & Claire Hill, HEY Conferences Business Tourism Officers, are delighted that they have had the opportunity to showcase the city and region: "Business Tourism is worth over 10 billion pounds to the UK economy and it is critical that Hull & East Yorkshire works together to get as big a share of that as possible. 

"We know what the area has to offer but it's important that we get the chance to actually show it to buyers, especially those located in the South East who may not have been to the area before. We know from experience that conversion rates are much higher if we can get potential purchasers here to show them what we have to offer and we're very hopeful that this visit will bring direct economic return for the area."

Liz was also keen to point out how important the HEY Conference partnership has been in the successful organisation of the trip: "We co-ordinate meetings, conferences and events in the region and are busier and busier each year but our success depends on the support of our partners and this trip is a fantastic example of how successfully working together helps to promote the region across the UK."

HEY Conferences recently launched a new directory detailing Hull & East Yorkshire's offer to conference and event organisers, to order your copy or for further information please contact the HEY Conferences team on 01482 486500 or visit http://www.heyconferences.co.uk/

- Ends -

NOTES FOR EDITORS:

Hull & East Yorkshire Conferences

Hull & East Yorkshire (HEY) Conferences is a public and private sector partnership actively promoting the region as a quality conference destination within the Visit Hull & East Yorkshire Destination Management Organisation (DMO).

The aims of Hull & East Yorkshire Conferences Partnership include raising the profile of Hull, East Yorkshire and the Humber region as a leading conference destination and providing a high quality service to its customers.

Visit Hull & East Yorkshire

Visit Hull & East Yorkshire (VHEY) is partnered with Yorkshire Forward, East Riding of Yorkshire Council, Hull City Council and the private sector. VHEY is tasked with generating increased tourism activity in Hull & East Yorkshire through a range of innovative marketing activities and tourism business support.

Visit Hull & East Yorkshire supports press familiarisation visits for journalists researching relevant features based on the region. 

Visitor website: http://www.realyorkshire.co.uk/

Corporate/media: http://www.vhey.co.uk/