More than 214 trade associations, venues, organisers and suppliers from across the UK’s business events sector have written to Lisa Nandy MP, secretary of state at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, demanding that recommendations from the recent Culture, Media and Sport Committee inquiry are implemented in full.
The letter follows the Committee’s year-long inquiry into the business events sector, which concluded with the publication of its Business Events report on 6 July 2026. The report found that the government’s current approach is holding the sector back from competing internationally, and called for business events to be treated as a distinct, trade-driven sector, separate from major events and tourism policy.
The signatories are calling for four specific actions: a more structured approach to ministerial attendance at major events; moving responsibility for the sector to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade; a dedicated national business events strategy to match the approach taken by EU competitors; and a reversal of VisitBritain’s cuts to its business events team and Business Events Growth Programme.
The urgency of the call is underlined by the scale of what is at stake. The UK’s event economy is valued at £33.6 billion, and visitors attending business events already account for 17% of all visits to the UK. The government has set a target of 50 million international visitors by 2030, a target the sector says is at risk without continued investment.
The UK is now the only major economy without a fully funded national business events team, trailing Ireland, France, Germany, Spain and around 20 other European competitors. Since 2018, VisitBritain’s now-axed Business Events Growth Programme delivered a 35:1 return on investment, turning less than £1.8 million of government funding into £60.6 million in direct economic return, bringing 167 business events to UK cities including Aberdeen, Glasgow, Sheffield, Liverpool, Cambridge and Newport.
Dame Caroline Dinenage MP, chair of the DCMS Select Committee, said: “The government’s decision to slash support for business events is utterly irrational and entirely counterproductive, when we should be supporting the sector to boost economic growth. It’s time for the government to show it understands the importance and distinctiveness of the business events sector.”
A spokesperson for the business events industry added: “Every month of inaction hands our competitors the advantage, and they are outspending and offering more support to win the large events we should be winning. Government has the evidence, it has the Committee’s recommendations, and it has a sector standing ready to help deliver growth in every part of the country. What it needs now is the will to act.” The findings were discussed further at The Business of Events Policy Forum on 7 July.