Tory conference set to boost city economy by £27.4m

The Conservative Party Conference in Manchester next month is expected to generate £27.4m for the local economy.

It will be the largest economic impact of a political party conference held in Manchester since the city established itself on the coveted circuit back in 2004.

The figure was announced this morning by Marketing Manchester, the lead agency responsible for attracting conferences to the city.

The conference, which will take place from 2 - 5 October at Manchester Central, is expected to attract around 13,000 delegates to the city.

Andrew Stokes, chief executive of Marketing Manchester, said: "Political party conferences have been one of the city's biggest success stories of the last decade.

"The development of Petersfield, investment in the surrounding infrastructure and a city-wide partnership approach has enabled us to not only attract these events but keep them coming back year after year.

"They are now a firm fixture of the city's business tourism calendar and contribute a significant amount to the city's £573m-a-year conference industry."

Baroness Warsi, Conservative Party co-chairman said: "I am very pleased that the Conservative Party is returning to Manchester for its conference. I was very impressed with Manchester as a host city, and particularly Manchester Central as a Conference venue, when we first came in 2009.  Manchester rightly deserves its reputation as a first class conference destination."

Angie Robinson, chief executive of Manchester Central, said: "We are delighted to host the Conservatives again this year. We have a tremendous amount of experience in hosting events of this size and calibre, but nevertheless our attention to detail will be as great as ever. We promise all our visitors a really warm Manchester welcome."

The economic impact of business tourism events is calculated using a VisitBritain formula that takes into account corporate and individual spend across the event.

The city's reputation as a party conference destination began in March 2004 with the Labour Party Spring Conference. Since then, the city has seen three Labour Party Annual Conferences (2006, 2008 and 2010) and their historic leadership election of 2007. The Conservative Party held their first Conference in Manchester for over 100 years in 2009 and return next month for their 2011 event.

For more information about the work of Marketing Manchester to attract conferences to the city, check out: www.visitmanchester.com/conference

ENDS