Events sector calls for Government support - The Business Travel Magazine
More than 214 trade associations, venues, organisers and suppliers across the UK business events sector have written to Lisa Nandy MP, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), urging the. . .
More than 214 trade associations, venues, organisers and suppliers across the UK business events sector have written to Lisa Nandy MP, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), urging the Government to fully implement recommendations for immediate support for the UK’s events economy. The move follows the Culture, Media and Sport Committee’s year-long inquiry and the publication of its Business Events report, which set out a series of recommendations. The letter’s signatories are now calling for the recommendations to be implemented in full. Published on July 6, 2026 the Business Events report says business events need to be seen as a distinct, trade-driven sector and more closely aligned with trade policy, with responsibility moving to the Department for Business and Trade (now the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade). UKevents says the sector contributes £33. 6 billion annually to the UK economy, representing over half of the total £61. 7 billion generated by the wider events industry. Visitors attending business events account for 17% of the UK-inbound market. The Government has set a target of 50 million international visitors by 2030 – a target the sector says is at risk without continued investment. Dame Caroline Dinenage MP, Chair of the DCMS Select Committee said the Government’s decision to cut support for business events is “irrational and entirely counterproductive”. Signatories of the DCMS parliamentary report, among them Damian Hinds (Conservative; East Hampshire), Liz Jarvis (Liberal Democrat; Eastleigh and Jo Platt (Labour; Leigh and Atherton) are calling for a more structured approach to ministerial attendance at major events, as well as a dedicated national strategy for business events, to match the approach of EU competitors. They have also asked for a reversal in cuts made by VisitBritain to its business events teamIn an earlier letter sent to the DCMS by The Business of Events (TBOE) and Events Industry Alliance (EIA) and written on behalf of 28 organisations representing the UK business-events sector, TBOE and EIA expressed their “total disbelief” at the announcement that the team at VisitBritain is being reduced from nine to two, and that the Business Events Growth Program (BEGP) is to be abolished. ‘Cuts mean the UK is the only major economy without a fully funded and resourced business events team. ’The Report describes the move as “counterproductive at a time when the focus should be on economic growth and the promotion of the UK as a business destination”.