Events Industry
(asked on 10th January 2023) - View Source
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether she is taking steps to support business events organisers based in (a) Europe and (b) other countries who wish to engage with the UK business events sector.
Answered by
Stuart Andrew
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government is taking a number of steps to promote the UK’s strong business events offer to the international market. VisitBritain supports organisations in hosting international business events in the UK through their Business Events Growth Programme, which has awarded over £1.5m in grants since 2016. VisitEngland also facilitates meetings between English cities and key international markets throughout the year at international trade shows such as IMEX Frankfurt and IBTM World in Barcelona.
Business events are hugely valuable to our economy, contributing over £31 billion a year in spend and supporting hundreds of thousands of jobs. They promote our leading growth sectors to the world while attracting international visitors to all corners of the UK.
We continue to engage with the sector, including through the Tourism Industry Council and the Events Industry Board Working Group, to assess how we can further strengthen the UK’s reputation as a leading business events destination.