More business professionals attend events

EIA Facts gathered data from ABC, BPA Worldwide, venues and organisers and presents a picture of a buoyant live event marketing sector in the UK and Eire in 2006.

The EIA Facts 2007 is the most complete census yet of the events industry, developing previous annual research to deliver more meaningful data for increasingly interested marketers and media agencies.

The findings show that last year, millions of visitors attended trade events in qualifying venues (more than 2,000 m2 covered space) an increase in total comparable audited attendance of 1.7 per cent since 2005.

Some 2,071,663 visitors attended these trade events with 4,867,030 attending public events - a total of 6,938,693 event visits in 2006.

Adding claimed attendance at the major outdoor events, this total rises to 10,706,761, although with the caveats and venue qualifications inherent, it is not the entire picture.

Countless more outdoor events and many indoor events at small venues take place throughout the UK each year, so this figure is clearly an understatement of the total number of visitors to the fast-growing number of live events each year.

Events Industry Alliance chairman and Earls Court Olympia managing director Nigel Nathan said: "This year has seen a significant move towards an annual analysis on the UK events market - important changes have been made to the way the data is collected and collated.

"As a result of this, we are unable to fully compare this year's EIA Facts with previous years to produce trend analyses.

"It is now the new dawn of the EIA Facts; through discussion and consultation with the EIA research group, the EIA Facts has the objective of reporting accurate data for the industry, and to analyse industry trends.

"It is our intention to improve and extend the range of data collection and reporting to provide as full a reporting document as we can about our industry".

Events Industry Alliance group chief executive Trevor Foley added: "The main message is that the events business is alive and doing very well, especially when you compare it to other marketing media such as advertising and TV, which have been decimated over recent years.

"This new method of analysis will give us the ammunition next year and thereafter to clearly demonstrate that live event marketing is on the rise, as we in the industry and the more savvy marketers out there, already know".

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