Event and conference bookings double but the number of social corporate events falls
Corporate events and conferences have doubled in the UK this year, but the number of social corporate events has fallen.
These are the findings of Venue Reservations, which seen 62% of its enquiries being business summits and meetings, compared with 29% during the same period last year.
Charles Beer, managing director of the Crown Group, which owns the booking business, said: "We are seeing more enquiries for combined events, where a company holds a regular business function followed by a social element afterwards."
But the analysis found that the increase in enquiries for business-related functions had been at the expense of social-related corporate events. Instead, demand for combined events is on the up.
Beer explained: "This not only saves the cost of holding two separate events but also sends a very different message out to the wider world. Solely social corporate events in times of austerity aren't deemed to be as acceptable as they once were, so holding a combined event is the approach many companies are now taking."
Demand for more standing reception-style events more than doubled over the past year, increasing from 25% in 2011 to 57% in 2012 (figures taken from first-quarter results).
By Janie Manzoori-Stamford
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