Tory visit boosts city's profile

By Andrew Dawkins
BBC News, Birmingham

More than 10,000 people were due at the conference

A decade after Clinton and Wogan, it is Cameron's visit which has put Birmingham in the spotlight again.

Like the G8 summit and the Eurovision Song Contest in 1998, the Conservative conference has underlined Birmingham's ability to stage huge events.

And the local economy has been boosted with up to £20m being brought in, according to estimates.

Held at the International Convention Centre (ICC), delegates have been right next to Broad Street, the city's entertainment capital, and the transformed canal system at Brindley Place.

'So accessible'

So with more than 10,000 people descending on the area, and Tories swapping maps of previous seaside destinations for guide books of Brum, has the city shaken off negative images of the past?

"I don't think people realise what a vibrant and regenerated city this is," ICC general manager, Geoff Fenlon, said.

The conference will instill a sense of increased confidence in the city that Birmingham is being taken seriously Ian Taylor Marketing Birmingham

"How much Broad Street's improved. How much the Bullring (shopping centre) has improved."

Conservative Party Chair Caroline Spelman, MP for the nearby constituency of Meriden, said she believed the fact Birmingham was "so accessible" was one reason behind what has been a record attendance.

Politically, as the Conservatives have their main conference in Birmingham for the first time since World War II, they have been looking to pick up votes in marginal Labour constituencies.

Home Secretary and Redditch MP Jacqui Smith could be among high-profile Labour casualties if a general election was called now, analysts have predicted.

What do delegates think of Birmingham?

Analysis website Electoral Calculus, which bases its predictions on national opinion polls, said Labour could lose half of its MPs in the West Midlands.

Marketing Birmingham, which promotes the city, said images of Birmingham seen around the country in the media this week were of a "city transformed in the last 10 years".

Commercial director, Ian Taylor, said: "This is the first time that the Conservatives have held their conference in Birmingham for 75 years.

"And the move away from seaside towns has resulted in a marked increase in delegates.

"We have close to 11,000 people and 1,000 journalists in Birmingham this week, spending money in our hotels, bars, restaurants, shops and other businesses.

"The conference will instill a sense of increased confidence in the city that Birmingham is being taken seriously, people want to come here, want to do business here."

'Very positive'

While David Cameron has been seen jogging around the canal network this week, Mr Fenlon said he was finding that delegates were spending a lot of time in the city centre, more than expected.

"The reports we're getting back from the bars, restaurants and shops is all very positive," he said.

Birmingham doesn't have to keep proving itself John Lamb Birmingham Chamber of Commerce

At the ICC itself about 600 staff have been involved in what has been "effectively a 24-hour operation".

There have been about 250 fringe events, and the conference centre was estimating to be dealing with about "45,000 cups of coffee and about 5,000 sandwiches".

But what about the future for the city? Will this have many benefits beyond a political conference being staged here?

"We find of people who have been to Birmingham, about 95% of them will say they'll come back," Mr Fenlon said.

"This compares to speaking to people who have never been - one in two say they will come to Birmingham.

Tory leader David Cameron has been seen jogging around the canal

"About 75% of our business (at the ICC) is linked to a repeat - either the same event or the same client."

John Lamb, from Birmingham Chamber of Commerce and Industry, stressed the city has a "huge reputation" for staging major conferences and the NEC, for example, had bookings "way ahead".

He said: "They not only come here, they also spread the word. But Birmingham doesn't have to keep proving itself.

"It's probably worth the traffic disruption that people are putting up with.

"In these tough economic conditions, it's nice to have an injection of cash into the city."

Some people at the conference have found it difficult to negotiate, but the ICC put this down to the amount of visitors and the scale of the event.

The centre, which opened in 1991, enjoyed its most profitable year ever last year and has been on target to beat that.

It hosted the Labour spring conference in February and a government cabinet meeting on 8 September.

The Conservatives have been booked again for 2010 and the city is due to host more than 25,000 Rotarians next year.