Guest Blog - AFO’s Steve Heap on Brexit

'ORGANISERS WILL KNUCKLE DOWN AND DO THEIR BEST' - Steve Heap, general secretary of the AFO, chairman of EIF and director of Mrs. Casey Music, gives Access his personal take on what Brexit might mean for the events industry.

Clearly I cannot speak for all the members of AFO and EIF so I write personally.

I didn’t think the original terms for the UK to join EEC (EU) were very good in the first place, but democracy ruled and UK joined.

UK Events Industry continues to deliver as ONS report reveals record inbound visitors through Q1

By Michael Hirst OBE, Chair of the Business Visits & Events Partnership - The ONS UK inbound tourism figures for March 2016 were published by VisitBritain on Friday 20th May, wrapping up Q1.

The figures portrayed an overall positive image for the UK tourism industry, with a record breaking number of visits made during the first three months of the year. This included 2.57 million visitors in March, an increase of 6% from 2015.

Guest Blog from Nick De Bois - Events are GREAT

Post by Nick de Bois - posted on the DCMS Blog on April 15, 2016 - http://dcmsblog.uk/2016/04/events-are-great/

The launch of Events are GREAT Britain took place on Thursday 14th April at Chelsea Football Club, officially outlining VisitBritain’s new strategy for Business Visits & Events.

In, out, in, out, shake it all about.

By Simon Hughes - For those of you expecting yet another view on the current EU referendum – gotcha! We are of course currently polling all our partner organisations to see what the collective view from the business events sector is on the thorny question of which way to go and are looking forward to seeing the results.

Guest Blog - UK Events Industry Board

Post by Nick de Bois - posted on the DCMS Blog on February 25, 2016 - http://dcmsblog.uk/2016/02/uk-events-industry-board/

In January the new Events Industry Board met for the first time at the Department of Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS). Towards the end of the last parliament the then Secretary of State for Culture, Media & Sport, Sajid Javid announced the formation of the board as a working link between the thriving business events sector and the government. The board has three key goals. The first is to help deliver more valuable business visitors to Britain in an ever increasingly global competitive environment. Second, to recognise the role the events sector can play in driving long-term inward investment to the UK by attracting some of the world’s leading business events to the UK. Finally, to use these platforms to boost exports, in line with government growth objectives.