Press Cuttings Transcripts
New venue for London?
International Confex Daily, 24 February 2004
Mayor sets up commission to assess whether capital needs another convention
centre.
LONDON has moved a step closer to getting an international convention centre as
a major consultation exercise was due to kick off at International Confex
today.
Mayor Ken Livingstone has set up a commission which is set to report back within
12 months, in a bid to stop London losing events to other cities.
Despite having major exhibitions venues such as Earl’s Court, Olympia and the
new facility at ExCeL in Docklands, London’s largest venue is the Queen
Elizabeth II Conference Centre in Westminster, which has capacity for up to
1,000 people.
The chairman of the mayoral commission, Gerry Acher, was due to visit Confex
today to gauge reaction to a new centre.
“We already know the business travel sector is worth £3 billion a year to the
capital, and business travellers spend twice the amount leisure travellers do
every day,” said Mr Acher.
“We also know major convention centres such as Vienna inject up to £150 million
every year into the local economy. I am proposing a consultation process to
look in detail at whether London is as competitive in this sector, and whether
there is a strong case for a new large-scale convention centre.”
Visit London chief executive David Campbell said: “London is in a great position
to attract business visitors, but we can’t afford to be complacent. Other major
cities around the world are developing or improving large-scale convention
centres, and we run the risk of being left behind.”
Birmingham and Glasgow have bigger conference venues than London, and only one
of the UK’s top 10 events last year was staged in the capital.
A major new centre in the heart of London would require public funding.
Alternative options could include extending or adapting existing venues.
London Development Agency chairwoman Honour Chapman said: “London can’t compete
with Berlin, Vienna, Madrid, Amsterdam, Barcelona and Paris in the major
international convention market. That market is potentially worth billions of
pounds and could bring jobs and wealth not just to London, but to other parts
of the country.”