Abstract
The UK Economic Impact Study (UKEIS), commissioned by the Meeting Professionals International (MPI) Foundation and undertaken by Leeds Metropolitan University, represents a landmark study for the UK meeting industry. It is, to date, the most comprehensive assessment of the economic impact of the industry on the British economy. Although there has been growing recognition that the meeting industry makes a substantial economic contribution, the evidence base to support such a claim has, until now, been fragmented. Several valuable studies have been undertaken in recent years that have incorporated elements of the meeting industry, but their approach to economic modelling and data gathering have varied significantly. The lack of consistency and alignment with international standards has also prevented comparison between the value of the industry in one country and another. More importantly, it has made it difficult for the representatives of the meeting industry to provide evidence of its significance effectively. In order to provide a comprehensive profile of the UK meeting industry and to measure its economic impact robustly, the UKEIS adopted a framework designed by the UN World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) for measuring the sector’s economic importance.3 This framework has been used for similar studies of the meeting industry in the USA, Canada, Mexico, Australia and Denmark. One of its particular strengths is that it connects with official national accounting systems, specifically Tourism Satellite Accounts.