The UK’s world-class business events industry will come back fighting after Covid-19, stronger and better than ever.
That was the conclusion of senior destination leaders from England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and London as they came together to discuss the changing landscape of the events industry amid Covid-19 as part of Meet GB Virtual.
The virtual panel discussion, moderated by Business Visits and Events Partnership (BVEP) chair Simon Hughes, covered all aspects of the crisis, from the effect of the two-metre distancing rule, the value of associations, and the need for an industry-standard mark to help the industry reopen safely and effectively.
On the latter, VisitBritain’s head of business events, Kerrin MacPhie confirmed this was due to be revealed. She said: “There will be very soon an industry-standard mark that will be across all of our destinations across the UK. It’s something we can push out to the industry to say we’re ready to open and that will be happening within the next several days.”
Neil Brownlee, head of business events at VisitScotland, said that post Covid-19 meeting with a purpose was going to be more important than ever – and that the crisis had shown that the industry had more work to do to show its importance to the UK.
He said: “I think things will be more streamlined, but business events will come back recognisably the same. It might take them a year to do so.
“We shouldn’t be allowed to get dragged into the business travel discussion. Two days out of the office for a one-to-one meeting - that’s going to experience trouble. After we come out of this, I think business events are going to come back.
“Business events still have so much more to do to articulate that they’re so much more than part of the tourism sector. I think it has shown me more than ever there’s so much more to do to broadcast what we do and how we do it. A lot of that sits with the clients.
“We need to focus on the why, the how has to be worked out with everyone else.”
London & Partners’ director of business tourism and major events Tracy Halliwell said that the crisis was showing the value of being a member of a convention bureau or association.
“I think our members and partners have seen the value of what we’re doing,” she said. “I’ve spoken to a lot of people, it goes beyond convention bureaux, it’s memberships of associations in general. We need to have a choice and have the same voice saying the same thing. You don’t have that voice as one business on your own.
“Overall, the people serious about doing business in the future will now see the value of convention bureaux and associations.”
Moderator Simon Hughes, chair of the Business Visit and Events Partnership (BVEP), outlined the work BVEP has been doing around the two-metre distancing rule.
He said: “Operating on a two-metre distance is creating massive problems, some venues wouldn’t even bother opening. A conference centre I know well with a 2,500 capacity would be able to host 436 people if they follow the rules. We’re presenting evidence to the DCMS (Department of Culture, Media and Sport) to urge people to think about the economic impact of working within restrictions. We’re pushing very hard on that.”
Halliwell added that she thought the industry would come out stronger from the current crisis.
“I don’t think any of us will be complacent,” she said. “I think people will realise things can change overnight, not just with Covid-19 but with Black Lives Matter, climate change, Brexit… We have to be ready for all of this.
“I think the UK is good at this kind of stuff. It’s like they say, never let a good crisis go to waste. We will lose some things, but we’ll build it again and we’ll build it much better and stronger.”
Brownlee added: “This experience has been awful, but it has fast-forwarded a lot of things the industry was going to have to do anyway. People are investing in tech. Hopefully, we can lose only the bad stuff and keep the good stuff and new ideas.
“What we do in Britain is world-class. We don’t aspire to be world-class – we already are. That puts us in a great position. We’ll come back fighting.”
Meet GB Virtual continues on Tuesday 23 June, buyers and trade visitors interested in finding out more and registering to attend can visit www.visitbritain.com/meetgb
M&IT editor Paul Harvey is a journalist with more than 15 years of experience. He began his career in the local press, working for various titles across the north. Since joining M&IT in 2013, he has become a trusted and respected voice in the sector, championing event professionals and reporting on all aspects of the events industry for the brand.
