LONDON MAYOR BORIS JOHNSON has given his backing to the London Business Tourism Group (LBTG), a new body whose founder members include BAA, Transport for London and the British Hotels Association. Spearheaded by the Visit London tourism authority, the group is tasked with improving the capital's business offering "before, during, and after the 2012 Olympic Games".
One of the main drivers for the initiative is the opening next May, reportedly on time and on budget, of London's international conference centre, the ICC London ExCeL. Tracy Halliwell, Visit London's business tourism director, said: "Visit London has already been working tirelessly to align all of London's key business tourism sectors, including London's hotel, transport and events sectors, and with this new LBT group in place and the support of the mayor, we hope to drive even further business tourism to the capital."
Dan Ritterband, director of marketing at the Mayor's Office, added: "Business tourism is incredibly important for the city and we want to ensure that we do as much as possible to work with all the predominant city bodies to ensure we have a co-ordinated and open approach."
As well as ExCeL, the LBTG includes AEG, which operates the O2 Arena, and Earl's Court & Olympia. In addition to 32,500m2 of exhibition space, the new ICC ExCeL London will include a 4,500m2 auditorium with seating for up to 5,000 delegates, additional conference, banqueting and meeting space for up to 2,000, and 20 conference and meeting rooms.