EIA发布简报呼吁为英国商务会展制定独立国家战略
EIA calls for standalone business events strategy
英国活动产业联盟（EIA）发布简报，呼吁政府为商务会展制定专门战略，并将其主管职责从文化媒体体育部移交至商业贸易部，视其为产业战略的核心基础设施。简报呼应7月下议院文化媒体体育委员会报告对英国缺乏协调领导力及削减VisitBritain商务会展支持的批评，并建议设立行业主导的全国商务会展委员会；文中£336bn年经济贡献等数据为行业自报数字。
The Events Industry Alliance (EIA) has published a briefing arguing business events should be treated as core infrastructure for the UK’s industrial strategy, renewing calls for a dedicated government strategy for the sector rather than leaving it inside tourism policy.
The push follows a House of Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee report published in July, which found the UK lacks the coordinated leadership and funding models of rivals such as Germany and Spain, and criticised government cuts including the scrapping of VisitBritain’s Business Events Growth Programme and the reduction of its specialist team from nine staff to two. The committee’s chair, Dame Caroline Dinenage, criticised the decision to cut support for business events, and EIA director Rachel Parker said government now needs to “match the Committee’s ambition with action.”
EIA’s own figures put business events’ contribution to the UK economy at £33.6bn a year, and its briefing cites examples including Farnborough 2026, which generated £62.9bn in deals over four trade days, and MACH, which generates £200m of business over five days. It wants responsibility for the sector moved from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport to the Department for Business and Trade, alongside a sector-led National Business Events Council and published ministerial attendance targets for priority events.
The briefing builds on EIA’s 2023 manifesto, Ensure the UK Becomes the World’s Meeting Place, and follows a parliamentary reception sponsored by Theresa Villiers MP, who chairs the re-established All-Party Parliamentary Group for Events. Simon Parker of CIBSE, an EIA member, said: “The events industry is only as good as the sum of its parts – the EIA represents all parts of our amazing industry.”
Notes: I couldn’t find independent coverage confirming the exact date of the Villiers-sponsored reception described on EIA’s own site, so I’ve kept that reference general. The £33.6bn and other impact figures are the industry’s own, self-reported numbers, worth noting if you want to caveat them in print.
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来源：Exhibition News · exhibitionnews.uk