LONDON
London’s convention bureau (CVB), London & Partners, said it has experienced a major increase in inquiries from U.S. event planners this summer due to the city offering better value than ever before.
In the two calendar months after the UK’s vote to leave the European Union, there was a 66 percent jump in enquiries from the U.S., compared to the same period last year.
A number of suppliers, including ExCeL London, Maybourne Hotel Group and Spectra DMC, said they have also experienced an increase in enquiries and overseas planners have been requesting to settle the cost of their events upfront due the fall in the value of the pound following the referendum results.
“At ExCeL London, it has very much been business as usual since the result of the EU Referendum,” said James Rees, executive director at ExCeL London. “In the short-term, the weaker pound has been positive for our North American clients, a number of whom have called us to arrange early payments for their events in order to take advantage of the preferential exchange rate.
“Whilst we do not yet know what sort of deal the UK will secure from the EU, we have been pleased at how both the Mayor of London and the UK Government have responded to the vote and moved quickly to reinforce a message that the UK remains open for business.”
Between June and September 2016, U.S. enquiries went up by 22 percent and accounted for 30 percent of the total number of inquiries for groups looking to book a meeting or event in London.
Inquiries from Europe, the Middle East and Africa also went up by 22 percent, while domestic enquiries jumped up by 83 percent. Overall, over the same period, enquiries went up 41 percent.
In recent years, London has been welcoming a string of corporate and association events, such as HPE Discover, TechCrunch Disrupt Europe, AdWeek Europe and the European Respiratory Society congress.
Looking ahead, the British capital will also be hosting other key major events such as the Alzheimer's Association International Conference and the European Association of Urology congress in 2017.
This summer, London’s CVB launched its own version of the city-wide #LondonIsOpen campaign, which aims to provide information to event planners looking to host their events in London.
