London’s growth agency London & Partners will be
reducing activity and restructuring teams this year as it faces changes to its
funding.
The agency, home of the London Convention Bureau, said it needed
to make savings across the organisation as part of a three-year strategy which
was launched last autumn to ‘deliver greater long-term impact for London’.
It has not been announced where cuts will be made, although
in a statement London & Partners, which is primarily funded by the Mayor of
London and the Greater London Authority with partners and venture businesses,
said it would ‘prioritise areas most important to London’s long-term growth’.
Any cuts to funding to support London's business meetings and events sector would be a short-sighted move. The London Convention Bureau reported that business events added over £158m to the London economy during the first nine months of 2024 with a pipeline of contracted events suggesting the figure would be much higher.
Last month, London was named the top meeting venue in Europe
by Cvent for the fourth consecutive year.
London Convention Bureau said the ranking reinforced
London’s position as a leading global events hub, adding that the capital would
be welcoming 80,000 delegates at business events in 2026.
Barbara Jamison-Woods, head of Europe, Convention Bureau at
London & Partners, said: “Global organisations continue to choose
London because of the city’s blend of expertise, connectivity, and a
genuinely collaborative environment. Event planners
value London’s high‑quality venues, its diverse academic and
professional networks, and its ability to bring together delegates from around
the world.
“With major congresses already secured and active bids in
place for the years ahead, it highlights London’s enduring strength
as a trusted, future‑focused home for the business tourism sector.”
The plans to scale back at the capital’s growth agency
follow the announcement that its national counterpart – VisitBritain – is
restructuring its business events division due to reductions in government
funding.
A number of roles, including that of head of business events
Paul Black, have been cut as the tourism agency’s grant-in-aid funding reduced
by 41 per cent.
London & Partners Statement:
In Autumn 2025, London & Partners launched a new
three-year strategy to deliver greater long-term impact for London, and we have
made strong progress over the past year.
As we enter the second year of the strategy, while we
have seen increased income in some areas, changes to our funding and delivery
requirements mean we need to make savings across London & Partners,
including some reductions to activity and changes to team structures and
roles. Our priority in making these savings will be to prioritise the
areas most important to London’s long-term growth, our partners and future
sustainability. We are also continuing to invest in technology transformation
to improve efficiency and impact over the medium term.
We remain committed to working closely with the Mayor,
our partners and stakeholders as we continue to champion London.
Emma has been a journalist for over 20 years, with experience working in both local and trade media. After reporting on the fast-paced world of hospitality for many years, Emma is enjoying this transition into the equally exciting world of events to cover Holly Patrick’s role on AMI and M&IT while she takes her maternity leave.
