Know Before You Go: Guidance for travel in Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Birmingham is at the heart of the UK’s transport network, making it very easy to reach.
Each year, 13 million passengers arrive at Birmingham International Airport from 143 international destinations with 50 different airlines. Nottingham East Midlands airport is 45 minutes from Birmingham with European and UK connections.
Three city centre train stations provide rapid connections across the UK. New Street Station is at the hub of the city with fast and frequent services to London’s Euston station and other major UK centres. Moor Street and Snow Hill stations have services to London Marylebone.
All roads lead to Birmingham - well almost. An easy place to drive to being at the heart of the UK motorway network, with links to the M5, M6, M40 and M42 motorways.
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TourismA Regional Tourism Strategy to grow the West Midlands’ visitor economy by more than £1 billion launched in September 2019, aiming a significant boost jobs and the economic value of tourism. Developed by the West Midlands Growth Company (WMGC), the strategy is underpinned by showcasing and creating legacies from the world-renowned events soon being held in the region - including Coventry City of Culture 2021 and the Birmingham Commonwealth Games in 2022. |
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Business, professional and finance servicesFrom the first Lloyds Bank in 1864 to HSBC’s ring-fenced banking headquarters in 2019, the West Midlands is one of Europe’s largest and fastest-growing Business, Professional and Finance Services (BPFS) clusters. Today, the West Midlands is a major banking and finance centre, with 321,000 employees working at more than 43,000 BPFS companies. The region is a base for big names such as Deutsche Bank, PwC and HSBC, which started as the Birmingham and Midlands Bank in 1836. |
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MedTechHome to more MedTech companies than any other UK region, the West Midlands sits at the forefront of medical advancement. By pioneering the use of X-ray imaging, Birmingham’s John Hall-Edwards kickstarted a whole new field of medical science. He was the first medical professional to use radiation during a surgical operation and took the first ever X-ray image of a human spine. Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham was the first hospital outside London to use the radiotherapy machine CyberKnife, which uses robots to target radiation on hard-to-reach tumours with 0.1mm precision. The pacemaker has transformed the lives of patients with heart rate conditions around the world. The technology was the result of landmark research by heart surgeon Leon Abrams and electronic engineer Ray Lightwood, both alumni of the University of Birmingham. |
The wider West Midlands region, in which Birmingham is located, boasts over 36,000 bedrooms.
| 4* hotels | 11,500 bedrooms |
| 3* and under properties | 13,100 bedrooms |
| Other (student accommodation / home sharing) | 7,000 bedrooms |
From sports to music, convention centres to centres of academic excellence, Birmingham has a venue to suit every event requirement.
Motivate, reward and inspire with memorable incentive experiences in the heart of the UK.
For over 30 years, Meet Birmingham has been working in partnership with organisers, offering essential advice and support. The friendly professional team work alongside accommodation providers, venues, transport providers, event support suppliers, plus many others across the city and region. Services include venue finding, accommodation booking, social programme planning, delegate incentives, bid support and organiser toolkits.
