NWDA Business Tourism Survey Results

1. NWDA Business TourismSurvey Results November 2008 Ben Moxon

2. Incidence of business trips • 26.6m people work 16+ hours per week in GB • 13% of these individuals have made a business tourism trip to or within the Northwest in the past 6 months • Incidence is naturally higher the closer the respondent lives to the Northwest • Gtr Manchester accounts for twice the incidence of all the other sub regions

3. Volume of business tourism trips • 25.6m business tourism trips made to the Northwest annually • 7.6 million involve an overnight stay • WTO business tourism definition reduces the volume by approximately 50%

4. Value of business tourism • Annual value of business tourism = £2.1bn • Accommodation accounts for half of all pre travel spend • On trip, travel, accommodation and food and drink account are main expenditures • Accommodation only relevant for 30% of business trips • Personal discretionary spend accounts for 15% of total

5. Purpose of trips • Meetings account for a third of all business trips to the Northwest • Contract work includes skilled trades and construction work

6. Occupation of business travellers • The three most skilled occupation classes account for majority of business trips • Skilled trades also account for significant volume

7. Where these trips originate from • 9m trips from within the NW • London’s importance and transport links stimulate 3m trips annually • Neighbouring regions also account for c3m trips each

8. NWDA Business TourismWorkshop November 2008 Ben Moxon

9. Occupations most likely to do certain purposes

10. Duration of business trip by origin region • 70% of NW business trips involve no overnight stay • More local respondent is the more likely the trip will be a day trip • Cumbria has highest propensity of overnight business trips • 41% Cumbria c.f. 30% NW

11. Trips extended for leisure • Cumbria is the sub region with the highest propensity of trips extended for leisure • Appeal of the Lake District? • Extensions for leisure more likely to occur if purpose of trip is a seminar, trade fair/ exhibition or a sabbatical

12. Day of week for business trip • Earlier in the week is favoured for NW business trips • Wednesday is the preferred day • Splits the working week

13. Discretionary destination choice % of trips discretionary • Destination for majority of business trips not decided by person attending • Someone else decides • Where the work is • Visiting clients/ suppliers office • If destination is chosen then more likely to be Cumbria 15% 17% 15% 27% 22% 18%

14. Discretionary destination choice • Sales calls would appear to be discretionary in terms of the destination choice • More likely respondent has chosen to target a company in that area so it is less likely to be the destination influencing the choice

15. Group size and composition • 2.8 is average group size • 58% of trips conducted alone • 88% are conducted with business people only

16. Modes of transport used for business trip to NW • Car is most popular from all regions except London • Train provides quickest access to NW • Train also features from Yorkshire and the more peripheral regions

17. Non car users transport booking • Booking direct via internet as popular as going through company travel department • 1 in 5 did not book their transport personally • Tends to be lower occupation classes

18. Accommodation • 30% of business trips to NW involve an overnight stay • Hotels are the accommodation of choice • Guest house/ B&B and VFR account for 11% each • Guest house/ B&B more popular in Cumbria and Lancashire • Factor of what is available rather than pure choice

19. Accommodation users • More likely to book accommodation directly with the provider • Internet favoured over telephone • Almost a quarter did not book their accommodation personally

20. Value of business tourism • Annual value of business tourism = £2.1bn • Some elements may not provide spend specifically to NW • E.g. transport to NW

21. Incidence of spending • A third of all business trips to NW consisted of some form of pre book spend • Of course, a % won’t spend anything at all • On the trip, visitors more likely to spend on food & drink and transport • Higher % spend out of own pocket when compared to host company spend ... • ... But host companies in NW are more generous!

22. Discussion points • How to get more people to stay / extend trip • How to work with local businesses • How to get in contact with business travellers directly • How do we entice them / incentivise longer stays? • How to get more people to return as a leisure visitor

25. Definitions • Business trip is outside the respondents usual environment (i.e. where they live, usually work, eat out and shop for groceries) • The wage or salary of the respondent is not paid by the company of person they are visiting in the Northwest. • If the person has made more than 6 trips to that specific destination over the 6 month period and they are not part of one off jobs, projects or assignments then they will be excluded as this would be classed as a regular trip. • The frequency of trips to the Northwest for unusual business trips has to be less than 26 trips in the past 6 months. This would equate to 2 or fewer trips per week. Anything more than this would be classed as frequent.