Indian Film Awards: how Yorkshire businesses will benefit

In June 2006, Yorkshire was announced as the host region for the International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) Awards Weekend 2007.

The result is that for four days in June, Yorkshire will become home to the biggest stars in Bollywood, and is expected to attract 28,000 visitors for the prestigious event.

The awards will offer huge opportunities for companies in the region, with Indian businesses actively looking for opportunities to invest overseas – particularly in the UK.

Tom Riordan, chief executive of Yorkshire Forward commented: "The IIIFA awards will give Yorkshire and Humber the chance to introduce its world-class tourist, cultural and film locations, plus business and creative industries to a new international audience of more than 315 million. It will bring an immediate £9.5m million boost to the economy and increase the opportunity for businesses in the region to win contracts with the largest film academy and second largest growing economy in the world."

The event will begin with the stars of Bollywood taking to the red carpet in front of the global media for the world premiere of the year's biggest Bollywood epic. The second day will see the stars taking part in a charity cricket match, playing against professional sportsmen.

The IIFA ceremony will take place on the third day with celebrities and VIPs gathering for the daylong event alongside a paying audience of over 12,000.

On the final day, film producers, location advisers and crews will be touring the region in search of locations for potential future Bollywood blockbusters. This could open up a whole new market for Yorkshire as a ‘must see location’ for the Indian cinema audience of over 1 billion in India alone, and a further 20 million across the world.

Yorkshire Tourist Board director and bid leader Zulfi Karim said: "The size of this event is staggering. Although it's called the IIFA weekend it actually takes place over four days and the latest figures predict that 2007 will attract 28,000 people who will take up 12,000 bedrooms for four days and spend around £9.5million during their visit. And that's not all. The whole event will be covered by the world's media creating a really positive profile for Yorkshire within the international Indian public. That's Yorkshire right in the laps of 400,000 outbound travellers who spend an average US$1.5 billion on travel every year (£800million).”

India’s media and entertainment industry is currently worth $4.5million and is predicted to grow by 18% year on year, over the next five years. Its main driver of growth is in the field of convergence, bringing together multiple entertainment platforms such as television, mobile telecommunications and the internet.

Humber is now one of the fastest growing creative and digital sectors outside London, leading on a number of innovative projects in the development of digital content for multi-platform delivery, for some of the world’s biggest commissioners including the BBC, Channel 4 and Orange.

Gary Topp, chief executive of Yorkshire Culture said: "Securing the awards is a critical part of realising the cultural sector's regional ambitions. It is an exciting global opportunity with the potential to involve and engage many partners and to showcase the extraordinary reality and potential of the cultural sector in the region. We are looking forward to taking forward this extraordinary opportunity."