CCE JOINS NATIONAL BUSINESS TOURISM GROUP AS LENSBURY BECOMES ITS LATEST MEMBER
The Conference Centres of Excellence consortium has joined the Business Visits and Events Partnership (BVEP), the body dedicated to the development and promotion of business tourism in the UK. As it takes up this role, CCE has accepted another leading conference venue, Lensbury in Middlesex, into membership of the consortium.
BVEP, until recently the Business Tourism Partnership, is the primary forum and voice for the sector. CCE joins more than twenty other leading trade organisations and government agencies working together through BVEP - with VisitBritain and other Government departments - to encourage the growth of tourism and trade from business visits and events. Business tourism is worth more than £22 billion a year in terms of its wider economic impact, and the value of business transacted at trade events is estimated at more than £100 billion a year.
In joining the Partnership, CCE has expressed its intention to play a more active role in representing its members’ interests in policy making and implementation within the sector. “We believe the combined experience of our members, which have clients across all key sectors, will be an asset to the vital work of the Partnership,” said Kay England, Chair of Conference Centres for Excellence: “The business tourism sector must have the strongest possible voice in order to achieve the attention and resource it merits.”
CCE's latest member is Lensbury, a 150 bedroom residential conference centre on the banks of the River Thames in Middlesex. It is the second venue to join CCE in the last two months, following the Beardmore at Clydebank, near Glasgow, and taking consortium membership to a total of 37.
Lensbury is located on a 25 acre estate in Teddington. It has 40 conference and seminar rooms and an exceptional range of leisure facilities, including a fully equipped gymnasium, tennis and squash courts, a golf course, boating and watersport facilities and a 25 metre indoor swimming pool.
“Lensbury is a perfect example of our determination to offer conference organisers a selection of venues that offer truly outstanding services and facilities,” commented CCE Chair Kay England: “It provides versatile meetings space and the very latest in support technology in a stylish and distinguished location.”
Lensbury was originally a sports and leisure facility for Shell Group employees, and after extensive expansion and investment became a conference centre in 1999. “Becoming part of CCE is a vital step in our development,” said Lensbury’s Centre Manager Graham Parsons: “It gives us a nationally recognised mark of excellence, opens up new business opportunities, and enables us to progress by benchmarking ourselves with other leading specialist providers.”
Notes for editors
CCE members include many of the country’s best known venues, all offering dedicated conference facilities and services. Before joining, venues have to meet stringent criteria in terms of facilities, accommodation and customer care. The consortium’s website, www.cceonline.co.uk, includes extensive information on all members.
CCE provides a free, focused venue-finding service, providing guidance on facilities, availability and price for each member venue; it also arranges visits. The service can be contacted on 0845 230 1414, email info@cceonline.co.uk.
The BVEP’s website is www.businesstourismpartnership.com.
A picture of Lensbury is available from MGK Communications (see below).
Further information
MGK Communications:Michael Kennedy
0121 605 4048
michaelkennedy@talk21.com
