HIC Talk

One of the special charms of an international event venue located away from a huge city is that the centre does not work in isolation but it functions as a part of the community. And it is precisely for this reason that Harrogate is such a special destination for conferences and event.

The location of HIC on the cusp of the ruggedly spectacular Yorkshire Dales makes it really a unique venue. Moreover, whenever there is an event the local communities never fail to show their closeness and warmth to visitors, and it is the friendliness of the local community that keeps delegates and organisers returning year after year.

At Harrogate International Centre (HIC) we pride ourselves on delivering a first class service to our exhibitors and visitors. However, we are very aware of the occasional inconvenience caused by having a world class venue in the middle of a culturally rich place like Harrogate, which is why we work so closely with the local community. Read the rest of this entry »

Harrogate International Centre (HIC) has achieved a remarkable £180 million for the local economy during the 2010/11 financial year.

HIC’s head of sales and marketing; Alison Griffin said “This is a great achievement for us in the face of tough economic times and truly demonstrates the positive effect we have on Harrogate as a town and the local region.  As one of the largest businesses in Harrogate we would expect to have a substantial impact but this clearly demonstrates the value of events.  There are so many opportunities here for local business: from shops and taxi companies to restaurants and bars; to gain from the hundreds of thousands of visitors we bring to the town every year – a fact that is clearly demonstrated by this figure.”

The last year has been a challenging one for the events industry as a whole, yet Harrogate International Centre has continued to invest in new facilities, that will help bring long term prosperity and growth to the Centre and consequently the local people directly affected by its economic impact.  In particular work started on two new event halls that are due to open in Autumn 2011. On average, HIC hosts around 150 events and attracts in excess of 290,000 visitors each year, and is consistently acknowledged to be one of the UK’s top event venues.

Alison continues:  “The events industry has been particularly competitive in the last year and much of our success can be directly attributed to targeted marketing, attracting the right shows and the development of an ideal event offering.  Our excellent service levels have also helped us to retain a number of clients who were seeking additional support and advice from our in-house expertise.”

Recently, the Stroke Association has chosen Harrogate International Centre as the venue for their annual conference for the next three years (2012-14).  This event alone is likely to be worth a total of £6.6 million to the town and area.

The new halls are well on schedule and we are looking forward to seeing the results…. The development of the two new additional multi-purpose event spaces will add 3,300 square metres of exhibition space to the venue, along with increased hall heights of 6 metres. An expanded and improved main entrance will also be developed and an open air piazza is planned.

As the largest events venue in the north of the country, HIC generates vital income for Harrogate and the region.  Last year, it achieved a remarkable £180 million for the local economy during the 2010/11 financial year. This is a great achievement for us in the face of tough economic times, and it truly demonstrates the positive effect we have on Harrogate as a town and the local region.  Given our business scale and size we would expect to have a substantial impact but this clearly demonstrates the value of events.  There are so many opportunities here for local business: from shops and taxi companies to restaurants and bars; to gain from the hundreds of thousands of visitors we bring to the town every year.

These events also generate over 300,000 bed nights for local hotels and it is estimated that some 3-4,000 local jobs are reliant or substantially dependent on business tourism. The £13 million cost of new halls development is jointly funded by regional development agency Yorkshire Forward and Harrogate Borough Council.

The construction of the new halls is in accordance with the strict green principle that is consistent with HIC‘s broader agenda to reduce overall impact. HIC clients are increasingly looking to reduce the environmental impact of their events and require firm evidence of a venue’s responsible approach to sustainability.

This new development is expected to achieve an ‘Excellent’ rating under BREEAM (British Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method) – the leading measure of a building’s environmental performance.

What else… the project is already drawing new business. Recently, the Stroke Association has chosen Harrogate International Centre as the venue for their annual conference for the next three years (2012-14).  This event alone is likely to bring around £6.6 million worth of business to the centre and the area.

The UK Stroke Forum Conference, hosted by The Stroke Association, has chosen Harrogate International Centre as the venue for their annual conference for the next three years (2012-14).  The conference, which is a three day event, is the latest in a series of medical contracts that HIC has recently announced.

Alison Griffin, Head of Sales and Marketing at Harrogate said:  “The UK Stroke Forum’s decision to choose us for their annual conference for three years comes against the back-drop of our recent run of medical event success stories. A three day conference such as this always has a substantial impact on the local economy.  In fact, if we use Visit Britain’s economic impact calculations this announcement could be worth a total of £6.6 million to the town and area. The Stroke Association plays a vital role in combating strokes in people of all age groups. The conference is crucial for influencing health care policy and we look forward to welcoming them.”

Sally Atkinson of the UK Stroke Forum (UKSF) said: “The UKSF conference is the largest multidisciplinary stroke conference of its kind. The event caters for professionals working at all stages of the stroke care pathway and as such the programme is broad with various parallels, workshops and plenaries.  HIC provides the flexibility and space needed for our varied programme as well as our extensive exhibition area which will be housed in the two new event halls.  The UKSF conference venue relocates every three years and we are pleased to be returning to Harrogate, where we have held the event in previous years and been looked after extremely well by the events team.  We are also delighted with their offer to host a networking event at the Sun Pavilion which has really enhanced the social events side of UKSF. We are confident of HIC’s expertise in co-ordinating conferences on this scale and are really looking forward to working with them again.”

HIC is building new halls to boost the long term competitiveness of its facilities, the scheme, which will also include public realm improvements, is expected to be ready by the end of 2011. The new halls will be used throughout the UK Stroke Forum Conference. 

Using Visit Britain’s definition of economic impact for events, Harrogate International Centre has achieved more than £92 million for the economy during the first six months of their 2010/2011 financial year.

HIC’s head of sales and marketing, Alison Griffin: “As the BVEP Manifesto and Britain for Events reports have highlighted, our industry has a substantial impact on local economies, bringing in far more than just the spend at venues and on-site.  This figure represents just six months of work at HIC and clearly highlights our importance to Harrogate, the surrounding areas and to UK’s economy as a whole.”

During the period April 2010 to September 2010, HIC held 38 major events plus a plethora of smaller meetings and seminars.  Just the major events were used to calculate the economic impact so the true figure is likely to be higher than the headline £92 million.  July 2010 was the month with the highest economic impact – £31.7 million.

However, one immeasurable area these figures only hint at is the impact HIC is having on the knowledge economy, where HIC plays a huge role.  As one of the UK’s largest venues, millions of people are educated each year through attendance at HIC events, adding to the UK and Global knowledge pool.

Alison continues: “These figures truly highlight the importance of events to our economy, there are hundreds of venues around the UK, clearly most are smaller with less events than HIC but still – each one brings something to the economy, injecting vitally needed funds at a time when dramatic cuts are being made in a whole range of sectors.”

“HIC is clearly one of Harrogate’s biggest economic drivers, impacting on everything from tourism and event providers to local shops and infrastructure.  We are closely supported through all our work by the efforts of the town and residents, who ensure we remain a fashionable and friendly place to hold events.”

“HIC’s place at the heart of Britain’s knowledge economy can also be extrapolated from these figures.  With so many events and so much education taking place within the Centre we are continually helping to improve and disseminate knowledge at a time when the most valuable commodities are information and understanding.”