1. Significance of University events in local
business tourism
Eva Martín and Jordi Sardà
6th ATLAS Business Tourism Meeting
Liverpool, 23rd November 2009

2. Outline
•Introduction
•Business tourism in Lleida
•Data collection method
•Events organized by University of
Lleida (UdL)
•Comparison between University of
Lleida (UdL) events and city events
•Conclusions

3. University Events
Academic and scientific
events
(workshops, conferences, symposia
and scientific meetings)

4. Hypothesis
University events contribute to
develop local business tourism

5. Lleida

6. Population
127,314 inhabitants
15.22 % foreigners

7. Economy activity
Service sector 70% employment
Industry sector 13% employment
Construction 11.3% employment
Agriculture in the city is very low

8. Tourism in Lleida
Urban Tourism
•Culture (events,
monuments, museums)
•Gastronomy
•Business

9. Tourism in Lleida
Urban Tourism
•Culture (events,
monuments, museums)
•Gastronomy
•Business

10. Tourism in Lleida
“it’s the second catalan
city on significance,
following Barcelona, in
business tourism”
— Àngel Ros, major of Lleida

11. Hotel capacity
15 Hotels
5 stars (1)
4 stars (6)
3 stars (4)
2,062 Beds
1,032 Rooms

12. Infrastructure
Fair of Lleida
Auditorium
Theaters
Conference rooms in hotels
University

13. Convention Centre
“time ago, cities
uniqueness was having a
conference hall, nowadays
the different ones at those
don’t have it”
— Jon Ortuzar, Spanish Convention Centre Assotiation

14. Convention centre
Opening on 2nd December 2009
Close to the rail station and to the
fair
Conference rooms (1000; 400; 200
and 35)

15. Business Tourism in
Lleida
Progress in hosted events
Source: Turisme de Lleida
Progress in hosted events increases

16. Business Tourism in
Lleida
Progress in event attendance
Source: Turisme de Lleida
Progress in event attendance increases

17. Business Tourism in
Lleida
Progress in expenses per day
Source: Turisme de Lleida
Expenses per day increases

18. Business Tourism in
Lleida
Economic Impact
Source: Turisme de Lleida
Economic impact increases

19. Business Tourism in
Lleida
Progress in event duration
Source: Turisme de Lleida
Event duration decreases

20. Business Tourism in
Lleida
Attendants per event
400
300 305
278 265
251 240
200 217
152 142
100 129 117 109 101
0
1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007
Ratio attendants/event decreases

21. University of Lleida
(UdL)
• Small size university
• About 8,000 students in seven
faculties and three affiliated
centers

22. University of Lleida
Rectorat
Campus de Cappont
ETSEA
Ciències Salut
(meeting rooms, auditorium, classrooms,
conference room)
Maximum capacity 2 x 300 people

23. Events
Attract people from all over Catalonia,
Spain and the entire globe
They will later spend and consume in the
city and bring in economic profits

24. Social Benefits
Good reputation (institution and
destination)
Contribute to enlarge global knowledge
Bring new influx of tourist for
professional reasons

25. Data collection
A questionaire to
organizers
Initial sample: 98 events

26. Sample
6 events outside organization
3 events did not answer
2 videoconference
32 events have only attendants
from the city
Analyzed: 55 events

27. Sample
Only 3.2% of event organizers
declined to provide the
attendance origin, the
revenues and the expenses
The rest provide all the information

28. University of Lleida
Event expenses are covered by:
Registration fees
Constributions from private companies
Public funding

29. Events income
18%
Registration fee
52% Private funding
30% Public funding

30. Classification by field
• Health and Medicine
• Technology
• Language and Literature
• Social Sciences, Law,
Economics and Education

31. Health and Medicine
27.3% total events
Mostly national attendants
Funding by private companies
Small news coverage from non-specialized
media

32. Social Sciences,
Economics, Law and
Educational
47.3 % total events
Mostly from the Region
High impact in local media
Short duration

33. Technology
18.2 % total events
Mostly international attendants
Small coverage from non-specialized media

34. Language and
Literature
7.3% total events
Few attendants
Various origins
Local media medium coverage

35. Main period
Autum and Spring
November, October, March, April
and May (76.36%)

36. Media coverage
4%
14%
Social Sc., Law, Education, Economics
Health and Medicine
Technology
22% Language and Literature
59%

37. Duration UdL events
Field 2006 2007
Social Sc., Law, Education & Economics 1.70 1.47
Health and Medicine 1.69 2.00
Technological 3.00 1.83
Language and Literature - 2.00
Total 1.93 1.80

38. Attendants
Field 2006 2007
Social Sc., Law, Education & Economics 107 95
Health and Medicine 188 186
Technological 167 114
Language and Literature - 77
Total 147 116
Ratio attendant/event decrease

39. Economic Impact
UdL Events Lleida Events
Year 2006 2.5 M€ 14 M€
Year 2007 2.7 M€ 17 M€

40. Economic Impact
Input-Output Methodology
Input-Output Table
Several studies with this
methodology

41. Attendants origin
comparison
Origin attendants UdL Lleida
Spain 90.8% 85.4%
Foreigners 9.2% 14.6%

42. Summary
UdL events last longer (35%) that city
events
Average attendance in city events
lower than university events
Similar origins of attendants

43. Hypothesis
University events
contribute to develop
Texto
local business tourism

44. Conclusions
Events organized directly by UdL
represent:
• 10% of total events in the city
• 11-14% of total attendants at
meetings in Lleida
• 16-18% economic impact of
business tourism
• Duration 35% longer

45. Conclusions
Economic impact is higher:
• UdL events duration on average is
longer than the Lleida events
• Attendance in UdL events higher on
average than attendance in Lleida
events

46. Conclusions
This paper may serve as a decision
tool for local governments to decide
to invest or not to invest in events
organized by UdL
It can also help UdL priorize events to
achieve desired goals: media
coverage, worldwide projection, ROI

47. Significance of university events in local
business tourism
Thank you very much
eva@estiu.udl.cat

48. Future works
Comparison with other activities
Analyse other activities in Lleida
If tourists come back with friends or
family