James Rees

Director of Conferences & Events ExCeL London

For us, 2012 has been a year unlike any other with the Olympic and Paralympic Games taking place in the Capital. In terms of ExCeL London, we saw an increase of 43 per cent in meetings business over 2011 and 2012. There has been a strengthening of MICE business in 2012 and we are seeing increased enquiries in association congresses as well as a significant upturn in corporate events. This has seen London’s ICCA ranking climb from 19th in 2008 to 7th in 2012.