Nicola MacdonaldThe Business Visits & Events Partnership (BVEP) has carried out a survey of its partner organisations to gauge their opinion on how ‘Brexit’ might affect the events industry.
The results reveal that many industry professionals have concerns about the volume of events that would be attracted to the UK and the amount of investment that be made in the industry if the country votes to leave.
Only 10 per cent of respondents thought that more events would be attracted to the UK in the event of Brexit, with 60 per cent predicting that it would be less.
56 per cent believed that recruiting the right staff would be the same after leaving the EU, with 39 per cent saying it would be more difficult and 5 per cent saying it would be easier.
The survey also asked respondents what issues might arise post-Brexit for the events industry, and increased regulation on events in Europe was highlighted as a major concern. Among other issues raised were loss of Europan contractions, transport and operational costs and a perception of Britain being perceived as an ‘outisder’ destination.
“This is a timely piece of research,” said Michael Hirst OBE, chair of the BVEP (pictured). “It highlights some of the key considerations and demonstrates how many opinions there are in this important debate. On the one side there are concerns about some of the circumstances which will arise from a Brexit but there are others who feel there will be positive opportunities too.
“The EU referendum is now just weeks away, no matter what the UK decides, the BVEP will continue to raise sector awareness and work with its stakeholders to support its future growth.”