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News
Council leader: Glasgow
rail link axe a “betrayal”
UK Conference & Meetings
Survey 2019 launched
Glasgow City Council has
abandoned its plans to build a
direct rail link between Glasgow
city centre and Glasgow Airport.
The rail link was supposed to
be part of the £1.13bn Glasgow
City Region deal agreed in 2014,
and was intended to be
operational by 2025.
Following delays and concerns
over capacity at Glasgow Central
station, the council has stated
they will explore other options.
Glasgow Labour leader Frank
McAveety said: “Glasgow is one
of the few cities of its size that
does not have a dedicated rail
link to its airport. This is a
betrayal for the city.”
Conference and meeting
venues are being urged to take
part in the 2019 ‘UK
Conference and Meeting
Survey’ (UKCAMS), principally
sponsored by VisitBritain. The
UKCAMS 2019 report is
scheduled for publication in
June.
The 2018 research found
that the conference and
meetings sector was worth an
estimated £18.1bn to the UK
economy, with some 1.29m
meetings taking place in 2017.
Visit www.ukcams.org.uk
New venue powered
by the Underground
Property company Unibail-
Rodamco-Westfield and
Broadwick Venues are set to
launch Exhibition, a new venue
for London at the end of 2019 at
Westfield London.
Exhibition will repurpose the
Grade II listed Dimco East, a
Victorian building originally built
as an electricity generating
station for the London
Underground.
The heritage building will
undergo restoration carried out
by Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield to
bring it into public use for the
first time in its history.
Confidence in UK tourism
up despite looming Brexit
UKinbound has released its latest Business Barometer Figures,
which show confidence in the tourism industry is on the rise.
The research, which was collected by Qa Research, found that
59% of UKinbound members stated they were confident about
business in the upcoming 12 months. This was the highest rate
recorded since October 2017.
The increase in confidence was influenced by an influx of
forward bookings, the value of the pound, and increased interest
from North American and Asian markets.
Cultural experiences are viewed as key, while staff recruitment
and retention were cited as general concerns.
Throughout 2018 China and the US remained the two top
growth markets, and 28% of members felt that over-tourism has
a negative impact on their business.
AEG and SMG merge
AEG has announced a merger of
its venue management
subsidiary AEG Facilities with
SMG. The move creates a new
standalone global facility
management company - ASM
Global.
SMG is an Onex portfolio
company and Onex and AEG’s
subsidiary will each own 50% of
the new entity. The terms of the
deal were not disclosed.
The new portfolio includes
arenas, stadiums, convention
centres and performing arts
centres, with more than 310
venues across five continents.
EventLAB confirms 2019 venue
EventLAB 2019 will take place at
the Business Design Centre,
Islington, London on the 14-15
October, organisers Hire Space
has announced.
Head of EventLAB, Felicity
Cator, commented: “The
Business Design Centre is iconic,
from its glass-fronted
www.conference-news.co.uk
architecture to the well-known
events held there. We’ve worked
closely with the events team for
some time now and their
forward-thinking approach to
projects and business is really
exciting.
“We’re proud to be bringing
EventLAB 2019 to life with them.”