The economic importance of meetings and conferences: A satellite account approach

Abstract

Meetings and conventions (MICE) visitation is often considered an important element of the travel economy, and destinations target such activities to encourage their growth. It has hitherto been difficult to measure the economic significance of such activity at any spatial scale. Latterly, the development and codification of tourism satellite account (TSA) approaches to the economic measurement of tourism offers an opportunity to develop a parallel approach to understanding the MICE economy. This paper presents an estimate of the direct economic impact of MICE activity in the UK in 2011, following TSA approaches. The potential to extend the core Meetings Satellite Account, to estimate indirect economic impact and sub-national economic impacts, is also assessed.