News

First of this matters, the UK events industry is huge is worth £41.2 billion, with the conference sector itself amounting to £18.1 billion in 2017. On top of that, UK has consistently placed third in ICCA rankings from 2015 to 2017. Put another way theres a lot at stake.

What is the affect at the moment?

Recruitment – Lorne Armstrong, co-founder and director of The Event Academy, said that there is a drop in job interest from EU residents in the past year, which poses a challenge for various creative event agencies.

Without international perspectives, Armstrong maintains that our industry would find it hard to answer to the needs of international clients like BMW or Toyota who require “pan-European teams with the cultural and linguistic acumen to work across multiple countries.”

A no-deal Brexit is disastrous for the hospitality and events industry, according to the Immigration Advice Service.

Damon Culbert, political commentator for the IAS, said that a no deal Brexit could lead to a shortfall of up to 60,000 workers, something that will inevitably hit the event industry, which relies on EU workers and for professionals to travel freely around the European Union.

“While Europeans have been assured that their rights will be respected even in the event of no deal, the process for registration could put many off staying much longer,” Culbert says

Key findings of the annual Brexit survey conducted by HBAA show how much the referendum would affect recruitment in the hospitality and events sector:

Almost 10% of respondents said that Brexit had a major impact on recruitment—a huge increase from only 2.3% in 2017.

• On the other hand, those who previously said that Brexit has little effect increased from 17.4% to 23.1% this year. This corresponds to the decrease in the percentage of respondents who saw no impact on recruitment over the past 12 months (from 80.3% to 67.3%).
• Entry-level positions are the hardest to fill, according to 90.6% of respondents. Mid-level roles and senior positions also proved to be a challenge to fill, according to 62.5% and 56.2% of respondents, respectively.
• Despite recruitment issues, however, 86.3% of organisations have not changed their recruitment processes since the start of the referendum.

This impact on recruitment is felt across all sectors. The live music sector, for instance, is also bracing itself for Brexit impact. This could include additional fees for touring musicians, newer acts struggling to pursue their craft, and less diversity with talent and workers due to stricter immigration laws.

Business Impact – The HBAA Brexit study revealed that 57.7% of its respondents say the referendum has no impact to their business—an increase from 47.7% last year. Those who said there is significant impact also went down from 7% to 5.8%.

HBAA Chair Louise Goalen says, “Over the last 12 months these challenges seem to have settled down slightly and businesses have adjusted. Now everyone is warily waiting to see what happens next.”

Although the UK remains to be a go-to country for events, “our positioning as the global centre of excellence will be eroded”, Armstrong says, adding that Berlin is already gunning to take over London as “European capital of cool.” Perceptions are clearly huge on event industry professionals minds on top of the undeniable fact that talent from across the EU will face a raft of bureaucratic obstacles working in post-Brexit Britain.

Although business momentum is on a positive stride, events companies cannot stay complacent

Possible Affects of a no deal Brexit

A no-deal Brexit is disastrous for the hospitality and events industry, according to the Immigration Advice Service.

Damon Culbert, political commentator for the IAS, said that a no deal Brexit could lead to a shortfall of up to 60,000 workers, something that will inevitably hit the event industry, which relies on EU workers and for professionals to travel freely around the European Union.

“While Europeans have been assured that their rights will be respected even in the event of no deal, the process for registration could put many off staying much longer,” Culbert says

In the End

Despite all the grim warnings business is holding up, firms haven’t flocked out of London, the future remains uncertain but the present seems OK. For a professional award winning group of central London conference and meeting venues see www.cavendishvenues.co.uk