Britain’s £33.6bn Business Events Sector Is Still Waiting for a Plan of Its Own
Conferences, exhibitions and trade fairs are worth £33.6 billion a year to the UK economy, more than half of the £61.7 billion generated by the events industry as a whole, according to UKEVENTS figures cited by Parliament’s Culture, Media and Sport Committee in July.
Government figures put around 38% of business events outside London, making them one of the more evenly spread sources of visitor spending the country has. Yet over the past eighteen months, the public support designed to win more of them has been shrinking.
A year of cuts
The squeeze began in April 2025, when VisitBritain’s funding from the government’s GREAT programme was cut by 41%, from £18.85 million to £10.57 million. This spring, the tourism agency restructured its business events function, cutting most of the team, and ringfenced funding for its Business Events Growth Programme was withdrawn.
That programme was small but unusually productive. Industry bodies say it turned less than £1.8 million of government money into £60.6 million of direct economic return between 2018 and its closure, a return of roughly 35 to 1, and helped bring 167 business events to UK cities.
What MPs asked for, and what they got
The Committee’s report, published on 6 July, called for a standalone, long-term national business events strategy tied to the industrial strategy, a sector-led National Business Events Council, responsibility for the sector to move to the Department for Business and Trade, and continued funding for promoting the UK abroad. Committee chair Dame Caroline Dinenage described the decision to cut support as “utterly irrational and entirely counterproductive.”
The government’s response, published in September, went part of the way. It recognised the unique contribution business events make and confirmed they will form a core part of a cross-sector Major Events Strategy due by spring 2027, with the forthcoming Visitor Economy Growth Strategy set to explore a more joined-up approach across departments. But it rejected the call for a standalone strategy, and on funding said the British Tourist Authority had received a flat cash settlement and was responsible for deciding how to spend it.
Competitors are moving the other way
The industry’s concern is less about this year than the next decade. Ireland, France, Germany, Spain and around twenty other European countries continue to fund national business events teams. Australia has extended its Business Events Bid Fund Programme through to 2032, and Canada’s International Convention Attraction Fund reports a 22 to 1 return. International association congresses are typically bid for several years in advance, so a gap in bid support today shows up as a thinner conference calendar later.
It matters beyond the events industry, too. Business event visitors account for around 17% of all visits to the UK, international business events generated about £2.8 billion of inbound spend in 2024, and the government has set a target of 50 million international visitors a year by 2030.
Domestic demand is holding up
None of this means the UK conference market is struggling at home. The UK Conference and Meeting Survey 2026 estimates 1.17 million conferences and meetings were held in 2025, up 8% on the previous year and the highest number since 2019, generating £22.5 billion in direct spending. Corporate events made up 59% of that activity.
The pressure sits at the international, high-value end of the market: the multi-day association congresses and incentive programmes that fill hotels as well as conference halls. With less national bid support behind them, more of the groundwork now falls to the organisations doing the hosting. That means the UK university, professional body or business that wants to bring an international meeting here, the city convention bureaus that are still funded locally, and the conference organisers they appoint to turn a successful bid into an event, from venue holds and delegate logistics to programme design and production.
Spring 2027 will show whether a combined Major Events Strategy gives business events the focus the sector has been asking for. Until then, UK cities and organisers competing for international meetings are doing so with noticeably less national backing than their European rivals.
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. It discusses the UK business events sector, its economic contribution, and calls for a dedicated strategy to support its growth. Readers should refer to official sources for the latest industry data, policies, and developments.