Conference Aston achieves speedy post-pandemic recovery

Birmingham 's leading residential events venue, Conference Aston, had a strong launch to its new financial year exceeding pre-Covid 19 pandemic levels of business.

Buoyed by major events in the city and the bounce back of in-person conferences, the venue burst back onto the scene with a positive upward trajectory.

Throughout quarter one, which runs from August to October, business was 116 per cent up on 2021, which was also ahead of the curve of the pre-pandemic period.

Across the whole of 2022, the venue welcomed more than 66,746 visitors, supported 28 industries and hosted a total of 737 events.

This was led by the busiest August on record following the success of large catering and accommodation contracts for the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games with the month 125 per cent up on pre-pandemic times in August 2019.

Quarter two also started positively, with the November result also ahead of expectations, finishing 16 per cent up compared to November 2019 and December continued to be steady for the venue.

The recovery was led by large residential conference clients from the facilities management, education, charity, and association sectors along with new residential training contracts across government, transport, and health and safety sectors. Alongside new clients almost 90 per cent of the venue 's pre-pandemic clients returning to face to face meetings contributed to the recovery speed.

Events that helped to boost the venue alongside the Commonwealth Games conferences including the Visionary Annual Conference which is the flagship event for the charitable sight loss sector, Supergen Bioenergy Showcase around sustainable bioenergy systems for a low carbon future - a university event and the British Veterinary and Zoological Society 's annual conference.

The addition of new, multi-week residential training programmes, secured during the pandemic, has further strengthened the recovery process with weekday and weekend conferences.

Samantha Brown, head of Conference Aston, said: “Birmingham became the heart and soul of the events world, when it hosted the Commonwealth Games back in August. The success of the games and the long lasting effect it has had on the city allowed us to bounce back quicker than we anticipated.

“With the venue 's speedy recovery, we are positive that the rest of the financial year and the whole of 2023 will bring us more opportunities to grow and showcase Conference Aston as the leading destination for conference and events in the Midlands. ”