Conference and Banqueting Sector: Development and Influencing Factors

This report delves into the conference and banqueting sector within the United Kingdom, providing a comprehensive overview of its size and scope, highlighting its significance as a growing sector with numerous venues and a substantial economic contribution. The report examines the various factors influencing the sector's development, including competition, technology, accommodation, and political and economic factors such as governmental policies, exchange rates, and GDP. It details the different types of events hosted within the sector, such as meetings, conferences, and exhibitions, and their impact on employment and the overall economy. Furthermore, the report analyzes the internal and external factors that shape the industry, emphasizing the importance of adapting to market demands, leveraging technology, and maintaining strong political and economic relationships. The report concludes by underscoring the sector's role in attracting investment and contributing to the UK's economic growth, while also highlighting the need for continuous adaptation to maintain competitiveness.

CONFERENCE
AND
BANQUETING

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................1
TASK A...........................................................................................................................................1
a) Size and scope of conference and banqueting sector in UK...................................................1
b) Analysing the factors which influence the development of conference and banqueting
sector...........................................................................................................................................4
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
Conferencing and Banqueting is a part of hospitality industry. It offers different kind of
services like seminars, meetings for business purpose and also provides services. The Present
report is based on nature of conference and banqueting sector and it also identifies the factors
which influence strategic operational activities and along with it resolves the strategic issues by
effectively managing the banqueting sector (UK Event Industry Facts & Stats, 2017). Conference
and Banqueting sector takes responsibility for managing and organizing all the activities by
using strategic tools and techniques.
TASK A
a) Size and scope of conference and banqueting sector in UK
United Kingdom is one of the largest economically developed countries so it has
efficient power to organize world largest conferences. It is one of the largest growing sectors in
UK (UK Event Industry Facts & Stats, 2017). Conference industry offers meetings or
conferences space along with the seminars.
In UK, conference and banqueting sector has more than 6650 venues which are majorly
done in the famous hotels such as Hilton, Marriott and various other such sector. In terms of
conference it is estimated that there are 9 billion meeting rooms available across UK. More than
1.3m business meeting held very year and over 85m event attendees are there to attend those
meetings. UK top 10 such agencies have turnover of around £3.5bn and the average budget is
over £65953 in the year 2015. London comes at the first place terms of this sector. This industry
provides employment to more than 570000 people and involves various other sectors also.
Size of the conference and banqueting varies from large, medium and low according to
the requirements. The size can be justified according to the number of guests and number of
meetings is organized at a same time. The basic concept of this industry is to maintain high range
of relationship with the restaurant, bar and other related industry. Conference and Banqueting
industry covers the accommodation, meals and drinks venues outside of the home. These
services are provided both in UK and overseas visitors. (Guerrier, 2013).
Economic contribution of the UK hospitality
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Scope of conference and banqueting sector is that to get benefits from sources of earning
and also provide employment opportunities and financial growth. Conference and Banqueting
industry provides various variety of events like meetings, incentives, conference and exhibition
is a type of tourism. Conferences are conduct for the purpose of consultation and sharing of
information among the members it may be for the purpose of launching a new product and
communicate its news to employees and makes some public announcements. In UK, there are
more than 12500 conference and banqueting managers are employed because this industry have
highest growth rate and economically more powerful (Madar, 2014) The conference and
banqueting department are part of hotels and extensive facilities are provided by the resort and
business properties. UK is the strong competitor in conference and banqueting industry in
comparison to other countries. The British Association of conference Destinations define
business travel by tourist for the purpose of attending meetings, exhibition, trade fair and other
purposes that spent much amount of money as compare to general traveller or tourist. General
tourists visit famous places with their friends and relatives. The market competitors are varies
according to the time. The cities and towns of UK are more competitive for making profit
through the conference business. Conventions are corporate in nature. Venue is selected
according to the purpose of conference which can be college and university campus. More than
£18.8 billion are yearly spend over this sector. Events which are involved in this sector are
personal, local, commercial, fairs and festivals, public, civic, special, expositions, sporting,
global and hallmark. Various examples of the industry are weddings, birthdays, wedding,
anniversaries, community nights, drams, business conference, trade shows, book and village
fairs, concerts, carnivals, special day celebration, cultural performance, trade expo, boat show,
sports events, national and international games. This business sector is generally referred as
MICE. The industry is contributing for more than £39.1bn to GDP. Further, it is supporting in
the employment and taxation of the country.
Conferences are of different types such as Academic conferences, Training conferences
and professional conferences which is the growth motive purpose. UK is the strong competitor
company in order to achieve economic growth and other aspects of development because 74% of
conferences are held by UK over the globe. Conference and banqueting industry attracts more
and more investors to invest in this industry which contribute majorly in the country’s economy.
There are large number of industries it provides competitive advantage for the growth of an
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industry (HYaduma and et.al., 2015). Different sizes of the conferences offer diversified services
for different purpose of meetings. It basically belongs to hospitality sector where interior
decoration and facilities affects. Architecture of the hotel industry are basically attractive and
effective services like food and beverages. Worth of meetings and conferences are justified
according to their quality services with the trained staff. Banquet food and beverages makes a
larger contribution in the growth of conference and banqueting industry. Food facility makes
70% contribution as compare to all other services.
Banquet and conference industry in UK had attracted many visitors which made
investment in this sector. The sector has large growing scope and extended size. As per the study
it was found that there are more than 46000 hotels, resort, motels and guest house which uses
this services in order to attract customer so that they can organize their party or can celebrate and
can do such related things. More than 530000 people are involved in this business sectors and
covers 13000 properties in these type of firm. The size of this industry is based on business is
expanded, number of customer's or guest, number of function organized etc. According to the
size it consist of three types large, medium and small. Small size conference consist of 500
people as participants and continues for 1 day. Medium size conference consist of 600-1000
people as participants and continues for 2-3 day. In large sized conference meetings, 3000-4000
members can participate at a single time period (industry, 2015).
The industry is having the revenue of more than 80 billion pounds per annum. This
industry is considered to be generating the revenue which makes the third largest contribution the
country economy which provides the self-employment and income source.
The industry has grown and attracted many customer from other countries. There are
many tourist which are attracted due to the banquet arrangements in UK. There are various
function organize by business person, parties, marriage and various similar activities which
increases business. Moreover, people of UK like to decorate their houses and likely to prefer
them. The size of conference and Banquet Industry depends on the size which means bigger the
size more will be requirement and greater will be scope(Park and et.al., 2016).
Various types of events involved in it are shown below:
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Type Description
Congress Discussion are made on the culture, religion, business and many more things for
which large assemblies are made to convey the message.
Trade fair Place where people come in large numbers which runs for many days. It is used
to promote the large industry or sector which may further have specific
customer's or consumers.
Interview Meeting which are generally made to introduce things or for recruitment purpose
(Park and et.al., 2016).
Forum Special decision are made at this place, mostly happens between the committee
and audience. Generally, auditorium is used for organizing the forum.
Meeting For the common purpose people use to get-together.
Retreat For some special purpose people use to meet which are mainly organized by
firms. It includes the training. development and other related activities.
Road show To promote the product and services organization uses road show to promote the
business. This is accomplished by presentation.
Seminar For the smaller groups expert give lecture where interested people participate. It
is based on the particular themes and may have different venues.
Lecture Similar to seminar but held at larger areas. Theatre are used for this purpose.
Workshops Specific challenges or task are completed in small section/groups.
Off-premises
events
It is the integration in the large events which are organized by the business firms.
It includes various activities such as design of site, transportation, equipment,
location, back-up plan and operation of the activities.
b) Analyzing the factors which influence the development of conference and banqueting sector
Development factor reduces the risk and increases the effectiveness of conference sector
activities. Advance communication system is used for reducing the miscommunication and
optimum utilization of resources.. Development in this sector increases opportunities and options
in UK Conference and Banqueting industry ( Rahimi, 2017). There are various factors which exit
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in the environment and affect the industrial activities. Many factors which are responsible for the
growth of the conferencing industry. It includes competition, entertainment, technology and
accommodation along with the food services. Competition in a huge factor that can make impact
on the economic condition of the organization. To be in the competition organization makes so
much efforts, buys new technologies and installed in their system. These modern technologies
can be so expensive so with the limited resources organization can not afford such technologies.
If the organization will be not succeed to match the standards that market demands it will fail to
reach their desired objective. Accommodation facility are provides to those tourists who have
needs for travelling within a city. this facility are mostly avail by the visitors for visiting place in
a convenient way by providing taxi facility. Entertainment facility to a tourists by providing
night game zones, club party and theatre (Marais and et.al., 2017). These factors are internal
which are exist within an organization while external factors are exist outside an organization.
External factors includes PESTEL environmental factors which are political, social and
technological etc.
a) Political factors- It is one of the most important factor which influence organizational
activities. Political environment factors are not stable in nature which are vary according to
political situation Changes in governmental policies affects organization functions because
prices of a product and services vary accordingly. Political issues make a direct impact on
conference and banqueting industry because it is important to maintain healthy political links
which provides the improvement in industrialist activities. Governmental policy influence tax
policy, pricing stability and environmental laws. Changing in governmental rules and regulations
exert pressure on Conference and banqueting to modify their services with safety and security.
b) Economical factors- Economic condition and GDP rate of a country influence the
business. There are several factors exist which affect the business economic activities upward or
downward. It includes interest rate, tax rate which improves the country economy. Exchange rate
ratio, employment ratio is also good so that conference industry can survive in market for a long
time period. There are also many factors which impact the exchange rate ratio, inflation and
disposable income level of consumers. Fluctuations in economic prices like inflation, exchange
rates makes impact on the travelling tourists low and affordable prices attracts the tourists to visit
the UK places and high makes adjustments to visits these places in future time period. Basically
government have made some rule and regulation for the business organization. Changes in those
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rules and regulation can impact the existing system of organization (Rahimi, 2017.). If the
exchange rates changed then it would directly impact on the cost of products. For recovering
from the loss organization rises up their cost of production so this is why number of people will
be reduced.
c) Social- It belongs to a consumer behaviour and their culture which affects the business
because everyone has different belief, customs and norms. Person to person attitude also affects
conference and banqueting sector. Social factors makes an impact in the positive or negative
way. In this country, 20% percent of workers are employed in hospitality sector as this is the
larger ratio in compare to other service industry. Social factors also include age dissemination,
health consciousness and attitude of customers which impact to a large extent. Changes in the
tourist taste and preference according to other environmental factors in services provided by the
Conference and Banqueting industry. If the generation is changed then its obvious that people
choice will be changed. Industry have to introduce the each organization about the requirement
of people so organization can make changes accordingly. The people mind set changes as the
new trends came to the market so industry have to develop more range of products which could
be not possible due to the limited financial resources. This will impact on the economic condition
of the organization.(Seal and Mattimoe, R., 2017)
d) Technological- Technology continuously provides best and effective software for
managing all activities which makes the work easier. Today's environment are more competitive
due to the rapid changes in the technology. Technologies are changing by day by the innovation
helps in to promote extra ordinary activities at operational level.. It also increases the quality of
services which maximizes the profit and minimizes the cost. Hi tech rooms and seminars hall
makes life easy and convenient and provide fast communication technology.
e) Environmental- It plays an important role for the business. Every business wants to use
those kinds of services which are harmless for environment. Ecological factors sometimes are
favourable and unfavourable in nature which affects productivity of services. Environmental
factors are two types’ micro and macro which affects organizational functions and its growth.
Micro factors exist in an organization and on the other hand macro factors prevail outside the
organization. Internal factors include financial position, management of activities and company
brand image and cooperation. This will impact the working environment of the organization.
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People will not come to have the facilities in such polluted place. The customers will not prefer
to organize their important conferences and meeting at that place.(Seal and Mattimoe, R., 2017)
f) Legal- Legal factors are related to human rights and rules which are fruitful for the well
being of society. Health and safety instructions are required to be followed regarding labelling
and product safety. Different countries follow different laws and rules which are made by the
government of the country. Legal changes make a greater impact on business growth and
productivity. Legal laws are made for the well being a country. It also affects company’s success
and growth of a country because it describes characteristics of a product. Legal factors basically
related to the safety and security of visitors. These rules are made by the central government and
frames the do's and don't under consideration of tourists. Conference and Banqueting helps
industry frames their services according to the legal laws(Seal and Mattimoe, R., 2017).
CONCLUSION
Conference and Banquet is one of the largest growing industry in UK which is having
involvement of millions of people. The industry is providing the self-employment and income to
the people. In the report various aspect of size and scope are evaluated about the company in
UK. Moreover, pestle analysis is done in order to understand the effect of various aspect on the
industry. Such industry have great scope in UK and is considered by many people for business
purpose and for parties.
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REFERENCES
Journals and books
Guerrier, Y., 2013. hospitality management. Key Concepts in Hospitality Management.
Guilding, C., 2014. Accounting essentials for hospitality managers. Routledge.
Industry, l., 2015. 17 comfort standards from. Standards for thermal comfort: indoor air
temperature standards for the 21st century. p.169.
Lin, K.W., 2014. The Development of an Evaluation Framework for Determining the
Productivity and Effectiveness of Internet Room Diagramming Solutions (Doctoral
dissertation, Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh).
Madar, A., 2014. Hotel services quality assessment using SERVQUAL method. Case study:
Athénée Palace hotel. Bulletin of the Transilvania University of Brasov. Economic
Sciences. Series V. 7(2). p.71.
Mair, J., 2013. Conferences and conventions: A research perspective. Routledge.
Marais, M. and et.al., 2017. Critical success factors of a business tourism destination: Supply
side analysis. Acta Commercii. 17(1). pp.1-12.
Park, S. and et.al., 2016. Demand fluctuations, labour flexibility and productivity. Annals of
Tourism Research. 59. pp.93-112.
Rahimi, R., 2017. Organizational culture and customer relationship management: A simple
linear regression analysis. Journal of Hospitality Marketing & Management. 26(4).
pp.443-449.
Seal, W. and Mattimoe, R., 2017. 13 A Pragmatic Constructivist Perspective on Sensemaking in
Management Control. A Philosophy of Management Accounting: A Pragmatic
Constructivist Approach. p.260.
Steyn, M., 2014. The Undocumented Mark Steyn. Regnery Publishing.
Tomozov, P., 2013. Ristsõna koostamine kasutades kitsenduste rahuldamist ja libalõõmutamist
(Doctoral dissertation, Tartu Ülikool).
Van Zyl, G.A., 2015. Hotel openings in Cape Town between 2008 and 2010: Critical success
factors and challenges (Doctoral dissertation, Cape Peninsula University of Technology).
Webster, R. ed., 2015. Perfecting Perfection: Essays in Honor of Henry D. Rack. Wipf and
Stock Publishers.
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Yaduma, N. and et.al., 2015. Performance, labour flexibility and migrant workers in hotels: An
establishment and departmental level analysis. International Journal of Hospitality
Management. 50. pp.94-104.
Online
UK Event Industry Facts & Stats, 2017 . [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/blog/uk-event-industry-in-numbers-ds00/>.[Accessed on 06st
March, 2017].
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