Following the news, broken on CMW on 22 May, that Visit Britain/Visit England’s business events team had been cut from nine members to just two – as the national tourism agency’s business events unit bore the brunt of heavy government budget cuts – the capital’s growth agency and its CVB are also in line for cutbacks and possible redundancies.
Despite London being named top Cvent European city for meetings and events for fourth year, “changes” to the mayor’s office and the Greater London Authority funding of the agency are set to see a downsizing of the operation.
A statement from London & Partners on the issue reads:
“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.”
London Convention Bureau, which falls under the L&P remit, has just returned from IMEX Frankfurt where it had marketed the city together with 24 partners.
The latest, short-sighted cuts to England and London’s CVBs and business events leadership teams, illustrate a widening gap between the marketing talk and how our governing politicians really value our industry and its ability to drive economic growth, the knowledge economy and to leave lasting legacies in local communities.
