By Simon Hainsworth, Founder and Managing Director of Corporate Sporting Events
Can the Government events inquiry really add value to the industry?
Pushing the Government to take action on supporting the business events sector; supporting the UK industry to compete on the international stage; and amplifying key voices to secure future growth.
Those were three of the purposes stated when a cross-party Parliamentary inquiry into the future of UK business events was launched this month (April).
Dame Caroline Dinenage, chair of the Culture, Media and Sport select committee, made the announcement during The Business of Events 2025 Global Policy Forum in Westminster, explaining the inquiry would examine the sector’s challenges, growth potential and international competitiveness, with an invitation for representatives to give evidence to MPs later in 2025.
She added: “If we don’t jump at the opportunity to grow this sector, we may lose out on the many benefits of developing Britain’s business events industry. The success of the business events sector is vital to the continuing success of all the CMS sectors, and as the select committee, we are not going to take our eye off the ball.”
So, let’s hope this remit proves fruitful when the inquiry gathers to ‘examine the potential’.
Growth is well underway:
The events industry’s challenges have been well documented, with the pandemic, economic downturn, and geopolitics all providing hard knocks to organisers within the first half of the 2020s.
During the height of the Covid pandemic, the events industry lost £57 billion of its £70 billion in 12 months, with a 95% drop in events and a loss of 126,000 jobs (Business Visits and Events Partnership). More than half of event organisers made redundancies, cutting an average of a third of their workforce (Arts Professional).
And yet, the industry has been well on its way to recovery in the intervening years – so MPs may well find that the future is looking brighter than they might expect when they begin uncovering the innovation and resilience that businesses have shown to reverse the trend and raise the industry back to its former glory, or near enough.
The UK Events Report 2024 states the direct value of the events industry to the UK economy was £61.65 billion the previous year – not far below that of pre-pandemic levels.
International travel has helped elevate the sector, with 1.5 million visitors flying into the UK to attend business events during that year – collectively spending £1.7 billion – representing 84% of the events visits recorded in 2019 (ONS International Passenger Survey).
The future is brighter:
There are undoubtedly additional challenges facing the sector in the second half of this decade. Ironically given they’re now looking to support the sector, event organisers face increased costs due to the Government’s previous decisions to hike employer National Insurance Contributions from 13.8% to 15%; lower the NIC threshold from £9,100 to £5,000; and increase National Minimum Wage by 6.7% for those aged 21 plus and 16.3% for 18 to 20 year olds.
Many events businesses have already implemented low-cost, high-value AI technology, with this aspect of the industry set to grow exponentially over the next few years, especially given the continued corporate call for hybrid and virtual events as well as a return to in-person meetings and conferences.
And there’s always a challenge around expectations: those of the companies hosting events, and those of the audiences attending them. These naturally change over time, and see individuals seeking a personalised experience even at the largest of events, as well as a desire for more sustainability, inclusion and accessibility.
A range of expert estimates see the industry growing – globally, it’s expected to reach $2.5 trillion by 2035 (Globe Newswire) – and there’s no reason to think that the UK can’t and won’t increase its value proportionally.
So, while an inquiry is always welcome due to the spotlight it will shine on the importance of the sector to the UK’s economy, let’s hope it goes far enough to uncover the work already being undertaken to grow the industry; to make valid suggestions about what the future may look like; and (most crucially) the extent of the support the Government can and is willing to lend to the industry is order to help it meet its full potential.
It’s only if all of the above are met, and the inquiry recognises the hard work that’s been put in to re-establish the industry, as well as the role the Government can play in assisting going forward, that it will truly be of value for events organiser in the UK.
