BVEP, the umbrella body for the UK events industry, carried out research among its partner organisations to explore their thoughts on how Brexit might affect UK events.
Just 10% of those surveyed felt more events would be attracted here after Brexit, with 60% predicting there would be less. Industry investment was predicted to decrease by half of all respondents. The other half said it would stay the same or increase - just 13% expected it to increase.
Business regulation was the topic that most divided the industry’s opinion. While the EU is often criticised for hindering UK businesses with bureaucracy and red tape, the majority felt this would stay the same or increase, with 44% believing a leave vote would lead to less regulation.
Michael Hirst, chair of the BVEP said; "This is a timely piece of research. 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."
Many of the specific respondents’ comments on possible post-Brexit issues for UK events business, highlighted increased regulation on events held in Europe as one of the largest concerns. Other issues raised were the potential loss of work to European contractors and destinations; additional transport and other operational costs and the possible perception of Britain as an "outsider" destination for European events.
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