CITY PROFILEIssue 2 | 2012 www.66exhibition-world.netsuffer from the potential closure of the historic Earls Court venue. "We have been over-capacity in the UK for some time now," he says. "The NEC in Birmingham has around 200,000sqm of space. Twenty-fi ve years ago, it had around 90,000sqm of space, so it has doubled capacity in that time. We have not seen the industry grow at the same rate in that time. "There has also been a big explosion of regional venues in places like Harrogate and Telford."Pegler believes few cities in the world have the same pulling power as the English capital. He references the fi nancial benefi ts that the UEFA Champions League football fi nal brought to London last year. The staging was so successful that the fi nal will be held again at Wembley in 2013."In that week we held the Eular medical event, which had 16,000 delegates, and it was estimated the game brought £38m to the local economy, using the same comparison of hotel rooms," he says.However Pegler warns of complacency among London's organisers and venues. "We rather lazily thought that people would just come anyway," he continues. "London was held back because it didn't have an international convention centre. That did hold us back a bit. But if you talk to hoteliers, those that come to London on business are likely to come back as leisure tourists at a later date. There's no reason why London can't be one of the world's top fi ve business destinations."Excel London has 100,000sqm of exhibition space and recently held the Ecobuild exhibition across three days, a brand that UBM was prepared to pay up to £50m for."Ecobuild champions the best of British exhibitions on an international platform," says Pegler of the exhibition's value.The venue will be closed between June and September for the Olympic and Paralympic Games. It will host seven sports: wrestling, judo, fencing, table tennis, taekwondo, weightlifting and boxing. "We want London to remain a destination where people come to debate and meet," says Pegler. "Everyone thinks that the UK is London-centric. But if people come into London then they are likely to go up to Scotland and play golf, or visit Wales." Michael Hirst, chairman of Business Visits and Events Partnership regularly makes submissions to the UK Government on improving London's event space offering."I think Excel is still realising its full potential," he says. "It takes time for a new centre to fi ll up."Hirst sees infrastructure as a key measure in improving London's exhibition business. "The Government is still to decide on where it sees the future of Heathrow Airport, but improvements like Crossrail will make the transfer from west to east London so much easier."Tracy Halliwell, director of business tourism and major events at London and Partners, the capital's offi cial promotional organisation, believes the city has an "unrivalled variety of venue space" including Excel, Olympia, the Business Design Centre, Kings Place, the Barbican and the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre. "London also has a vast number of more quirky event spaces which still offer large fl oor space but also add that extra 'London twist' to an exhibition - spaces such as The O2 arena, The Mermaid KEY FACTS CURRENCY £1 = US$1.58402$100 = £63.1297  POLITICS The UK Government is under a rare period of coalition government. The 2010 general election saw no party gain an overall majority, the fi rst time this has happened for 36 years. The current London mayor is Boris Johnson. PLACES TO STAY For events at Excel,Aloft London Excel offers modern and convenient four-star accommodation. Those visiting west London will fi nd the Hilton London Olympia provides easy access to the quarter's key event venues.  FOUR-STAR HOTEL RATESFrom £100. AIRPORT TAXI TO THE CITYFrom £40. AVERAGE PRICE OF A BURGERA Medium Big Mac Meal is £4.09. DID YOU KNOW?1. There are more than 900 bookshops in London - twice as many as New York. 2. During the 7am-10am peak commuting period, 1.1 million travel into the capital. LeftHRH Prince Charles opens the Ideal Home Show at Earls Court

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