Venue Yorkshire - Yorkshire Tourist Board

On February 12^th – 14^th 2008 saw Yorkshire South Tourism scoop the coveted title of UK Best Destination at the International Confex exhibition at Earls Court, London.

 

Not only did the destination partnership win the award for UK Best Destination, they were also given ‘highly commended’ status in the Grand Prix, which was the overall award for Business Excellence. The award-win highlights Yorkshire South’s commitment to partnership working and creating a full buyer experience with an excellent range of support services and venues as well as the hard work of the team. It also raises the profile of the region as a strong player in the national and international conference market and the regions win came despite tough competition from other destinations such as Liverpool, London, Manchester, Harrogate, Birmingham, Scotland and Wales. 

 

Paul Colston, judge for the UK Venues and Destinations section, commented:

“Yorkshire South is on fire at the moment with a heady cocktail mix of venues and events offerings.  The marketing operation is exceptionally professional and a real sense of collective purpose is evident. The messages are channelled clearly through a well thought out stand at International Confex and other trade shows.”

 

The exhibition proved to be a huge success for Conference Yorkshire South, who also launched their latest conference guide at the exhibition as well as a new and unique stand, which was produced for the second year running by Sheffield based Clear Exhibitions. The stand definitely made an impact at the show with a two storey structure, a bar and hospitality area as well as a stylish meeting room.  The stand also incorporated a futuristic theme, showcasing Yorkshire South as an innovative and developing destination for business tourism.

 

The futuristic theme was further continued with stand entertainment coming from leading mixologist Chris Staien! Chris ‘Cocktail’ Staien holds several titles to his name and is renowned for his exciting and varied approach to cocktail mixing. Chris performed live on the Yorkshire South stand, preparing an array of never before tasted cocktails which reflected each destination and venue for all visitors to the stand.

 

The Yorkshire South Confex team comprised of stand share partners Clear Live, Magna, Sheffield International Venues, East Midlands Trains, Conference 21 at Sheffield Hallam University, Directions Finningley, Leopold Hotel, Hellaby Hall Hotel and the Keepmoat Stadium.

Conference Yorkshire South is now beginning to process a massive 369 leads that were collected at the exhibition from buyers looking to bring an event or host an event in the Yorkshire South region.

 

Speaking after the exhibition, Emma France, Yorkshire South Conference Manager, commented:

“International Confex has been another huge success for Yorkshire South and the highlight of the exhibition was to be awarded the title of Best UK Destination. We are delighted to be recognised for our contribution to business tourism; our approach to buyers and their events; the strength of our wider team in partnership with our venues; as well as our position within the business tourism field which we hope we will continue to build on in the coming years. To win this award against very strong competition is a real achievement and something that we as a destination are very proud of. Our strategy for the exhibition was a complete success and gave us the perfect opportunity to launch the new conference guide at an international and national level.”

 

 

For further information on Yorkshire South please contact Emma France, Conference Manager on 0114 2814048 or email emma@yorkshiresouth.com