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48 . www.conference-news.co.uk . June 2012June CONFERENCE BUREAUSbut we have found that in the past few years, there has been a steady decline in numbers attending such events." Most enquiries received by the bureau are from direct enquiries via the Cardiff Conference Bureau website, closely followed by client referrals, repeat business and the ambassador programme. Cardiff & Co also sends out three e-newsletters and e-blasts targeting its client base.The bureau is still in discussion with the local authority on issues of developing new hotels, infrastructure and the key question of a convention centre. The Inner Wheel Conference brought 2,500 delegates to Cardiff in 2011.ith no national conference bureau, Cardiff & Co, created in 2007 by local stakeholders and the private sector, is the main motive force for promoting the Welsh capital and surrounding area to the national and international meetings industry. Cardiff & Co receives membership fees from companies as far West as Seven Sisters, as far East as Magor and as far North as Brecon.The Cardiff city-region features a population of 1.4m within 45 minutes travelling time of the centre of Cardiff. A Cardiff Ambassadors' Programme was launched in 2009 and has grown to embrace 500 experts working to promote business tourism to the area.The bureau is reticent in discussing the value of conferences to the region, other than to say: "Performance is on a par with UK cities in terms of the loss of corporate business and public sector cutbacks impacting on the conference business."This year the bureau attended Confex 2012 and Summer Eventia 2012 and intends to attend the ICCA debate in June. "Unfortunately budget constraints do not allow us to exhibit at the European business tourism trade events," a spokesperson says, adding: "Trade shows are useful for information gathering of new/potential clients Back to the bureausLast month CN published a special supplement on the history and role of the UK's conference bureaus. We offer a short reprise here from Cardiff and DundeeWThe Dundee and Angus Convention Bureau was founded in 1998 and employs three full time staff at its council offi ce.An Ambassador Programme, active since 2000, has secured major conferences for the area, including the 8th biennial International Multidisciplinary Printmaking Conference (IMPACT 8) in September 2013.In 2011 conferences and events held in the area generated an economic impact of £54m and attracted 220,000 delegates.The fi gures represented a slight drop from the previous year, something the bureau attributes to the effects of the recession. The regeneration of Dundee's waterfront and the building of the fl agship building of the V&A at Dundee (set to open in 2015) and a Malmasion Hotel due for completion in May 2013, as well as plans for a new railway station and connected hotel, are all good news for business tourism.The area has attracted the UK's largest human computer interaction conference (HCI) and the Royal College of Nursing International Research Conference brought 560 delegates over a four-day period.DUNDEE