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Published:
11/03/2010
London DMC launches consortium to champion independent venues
Bill Prosser, MD, of UK DMC The Competitive Edge, has launched a new sales and marketing consortium for independent London venues and hotels.
Prosser has established Connected Venues to enable independents to compete cost-effectively in overseas markets with large multinational chains for corporate event business.
“The spend by overseas travellers visiting the UK for corporate events is estimated at over £4bn a year,” he said. “Independent UK hotels and venues rarely have the resources to compete effectively with multinationals who have global sales operations for their share of this lucrative market. At the same time more and more visitors are looking for a real London experience that is most likely to be found in an independent property or venue.”
So far 63 venues and service providers have joined the Connected Venues community. Regular mailings are sent to a database of over 6,000 overseas buyers with particularly strong coverage in Germany, France, Southern Europe and the USA. Other activities include the organisation of sales missions in key markets, representation at EIBTM 2010 and IMEX 2011 and targeted marketing campaigns by country or region.
Prosser added: “London is just a first step for Connected Venues. We are talking to partners from other major cities around the world and plan to launch a similar service for Paris, New York, Barcelona and up to 20 major destinations by the end of next year.”