The Events Industry Alliance (EIA) has published a briefing arguing business events should be treated as core infrastructure for the UK’s industrial strategy, renewing calls for a dedicated government strategy for the sector rather than leaving it inside tourism policy.
The push follows a House of Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee report published in July, which found the UK lacks the coordinated leadership and funding models of rivals such as Germany and Spain, and criticised government cuts including the scrapping of VisitBritain’s Business Events Growth Programme and the reduction of its specialist team from nine staff to two. The committee’s chair, Dame Caroline Dinenage, criticised the decision to cut support for business events, and EIA director Rachel Parker said government now needs to “match the Committee’s ambition with action.”
EIA’s own figures put business events’ contribution to the UK economy at £33.6bn a year, and its briefing cites examples including Farnborough 2026, which generated £62.9bn in deals over four trade days, and MACH, which generates £200m of business over five days. It wants responsibility for the sector moved from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport to the Department for Business and Trade, alongside a sector-led National Business Events Council and published ministerial attendance targets for priority events.
The briefing builds on EIA’s 2023 manifesto, Ensure the UK Becomes the World’s Meeting Place, and follows a parliamentary reception sponsored by Theresa Villiers MP, who chairs the re-established All-Party Parliamentary Group for Events. Simon Parker of CIBSE, an EIA member, said: “The events industry is only as good as the sum of its parts – the EIA represents all parts of our amazing industry.”