PUBLISHED: 15:15 17/01/18 UPDATED: 12:45 18/01/18
Destination Bristol has relaunched its convention bureau services, a move set to boost the city region’s ability to promote itself as a destination for conferences.
The new ‘Meet Bristol’ brand was announced at the city’s Annual Tourism Conference, 12 January.
Meet Bristol now sits alongside the Visit Bristol brand, and offers professional services to conference and business event organisers, including the operation of a free-to-use accommodation and venue-finding service.
The bureau says it will look to represent the city at domestic and international events, as well as carrying out a range of digital marketing, PR and hosting of educational visits for potential clients.
In 2017, the team managed enquiries worth more than £2.3m, confirming more than £830,000 of business-related events that took place during the year.
In November 2017, Bristol was highlighted as one of the UK’s most popular destinations for business meetings and events in the annual British Meetings & Events Industry Survey, rising from 11th to 5th place in the survey’s destination rankings.
Kathryn Davis, Destination Bristol’s Head of Tourism, said: “The new brand is more consistent with the already very strong and recognisable Visit Bristol brand. We are now more aligned with national and international protocols for conference and business tourism and have something more instantly recognisable to the industry. In 2016, the estimated spend by business event delegates on venues and in destination was estimated at a record breaking £259m and we are working now to evaluate the economic impact of the sector in 2017.”
The revised branding has been delivered by Bristol-based Stuff Advertising, who’s MD Jonnie Galvin-Wright said: “This is a great opportunity to not only elevate the Bristol events and conference brand but also to bring it to life by really demonstrating what Bristol as a city brings to this sector.
“The new Meet Bristol brand will lead communications and act as the foundation for new creative marketing. It will focus on both the uniqueness of our city and the way in which we can help event professionals make their events the best they can be.”
Bristol could become the fifth city in Britain to get an Underground rail system. The city council is reportedly reviewing plans for the construction of three tube lines, including one linking the city’s airport to the south, at a total cost of £4bn. The investment, it appears, is unlikely to be funded from government, so the mayor of Bristol, Marvin Rees, has travelled to China to secure potential funding.
“Bristol has limited road space,” says Bristol’s Labour cabinet member for transport Mhairi Threlfall. “We do need to be creative and inventive about how we tackle issues around congestion.”
Only four British cities – London, Glasgow, Liverpool and Newcastle – have rail networks that run at least partly underground. If Bristol’s plans do get the go-ahead it will be the first new system since completion of the Tyne & Wear Metro in 1984.
