Impact of Brexit on UK Event Industry

This report analyzes the impact of Brexit on the UK event industry, including the attendance of international visitors. It discusses the negative and positive impacts of Brexit on the industry and suggests measures to revive it. The report highlights the importance of the event industry in the UK economy and the different types of events prevalent in the industry. It also compares the erstwhile scenario of the attendance in international events and the current situation to evaluate the impact of Brexit referendum on the UK event attendance.

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Executive Summary
The UK event industry is highly promising and generate a great number of profits for the UK
economy. However, after the event of Brexit the event industry is facing severe challenges in
retaining its former popularity. In this regard, the report is going to discuss the impact of Brexit
on the UK event industry. At the end, it can be concluded that the event industry can achieve
success in the next few years with the cooperation between the government and the event
organising agencies.

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Discussion........................................................................................................................................3
Event industry in Britain..............................................................................................................3
International visitors after the Brexit...........................................................................................4
Negative...................................................................................................................................4
Positive....................................................................................................................................4
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................5
Reference.........................................................................................................................................7

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Introduction
The Brexit phenomenon took place on 23rd June, 2016 where around 51% of the British
citizens were voted against the association of Great Britain in the European Union (Mittelhaus
2017). It can be argued that there are economic, political and the sovereign issues that are
coupled with the leave form European Union. In response to that the country has faced sever
challenges and opportunities as well. In this regard, the role of this report is to figure out the
impact of the Brexit referendum on the attendance of international events in UK. In addition to
this, the report also encompasses the erstwhile scenario of the attendance in international events
and the current situation in order to compare and evaluate the impact of Brexit referendum on the
UK event attendance.
Discussion
Event industry in Britain
It can be argued that the event industry in Britain generates £39.1 billion to the UK
economy. In this regard, presently there are two important segments such as conferences and
meetings that yielded £19.9 million in 2014 (Friedman 2016). Moreover, there are 35% of the
international visitors to attend meetings and events each year. On the basis of this understanding,
it can be seen that the UK economy is very much relied on the events industries. There are
different kinds of events prevalent in the UK industry such as the corporate events and meetings,
music festivals, sports events and other cultural events. According to Giulianotti et al. (2015) the
UK music festivals had witnessed a 71% increase in the attendance both domestic and
international audiences in the year between 2003 and 2007. Besides this, in the words of Chan

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(2017) it was advocated that the London Olympic 2012 represented the largest and expensive
sports event where international visitors had gathered in a large number.
International visitors after the Brexit
Negative
However, in course of discussion it is important to study the impact of the Brexit on the
event industries in UK. It can be argued that due to the political and economic instability caused
by the Brexit referendum a huge impact has been casted over the events in terms of the number
and attendance. As far as the International Air Transport Association (IATA) is concerned, the
survey forecasts a decrease of the UK air travel by 3 to 5 % internationally due to the reduction
in the number of attendees in the UK events (Friedman 2016). As a matter of fact, the Brexit
referendum posed a serious threat to the UK music festival events as most of the international
festival goers and music bands are reluctant to attend the UK events. An annual survey on the
UK event industry opined that the summer music festivals have been curtailed sharply due to the
cancellation of 57 UK music events. In this regard, the visa issues are projected as a grave
problem for the international visitors. According to Milt (2016) more than 1000 European bands
are not willing to perform in the UK music fests because of their concern over the visa and
carnets. Moreover, imposing taxes in a high rate drives the attendees to lost interests in visiting
UK events frequently.
Positive
As far as the positive and beneficial impact of Brexit on the event industry in UK is
concerned it can be argued that despite of having some limitations and disadvantages of the
Brexit the UK event industry still has a better prospect in order to develop and expand their

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business. The event management agencies in domestic and abroad put positive approach on the
UK event industry. According to the International Live Events Association (ILEA) is can be
argued that innovation and unique approach are the key aspects to attract more visitors
(Giulianotti et al. 2015). Therefore, it will not be a problem to refurbish the UK event industry.
In addition to this, it is important to understand the strong foundation of the UK event industries.
As far as the UK literature festivals are concerned, there are 365 literature festivals organises
every year that is higher than the EU figures (Bannerman 2018). Furthermore, attendance in the
UK events is increasing in a rapid manner after the event of the Brexit. For an instance, the
number of people attending the live music concert in UK increased by 12% in the 2016 in
compare to the 2015 report of only 11%. As per the report of event attendance in 2016 there are
30.9 million in the total audience attending live concerts, 3.9 million in festivals and 18.4 million
local residents in the local music events (Milt 2016). According to the Deloitte Sport Business
report on 2017 UK Sports events it can be seen that there are 74.5 million paid attendances in the
professional sports events. Football events are the most promising events in this regard (Deloitte
United Kingdom 2017). As per the survey, there are 47.6 million paid attendants in 2017
reflected a growth of 5% in compare to the statistics of 2016.
Conclusion
Based on this understanding, it can be argued that there are some subtle impacts on the
attendances in the UK events due to the influence of the Brexit event in 2016. The event industry
has faced severe challenges from the international arena in order to organise events and festivals.
A proper planning and innovative stragies in order to attract more international visitors can be an
effective measure to revive the UK event industry. At the same time it is also important for the

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government to take adequate steps such as reducing the foreign exchange and ticket price will be
beneficial for the UK event industry. However, there is a sharp growth in the visitors and
attendees in international sport and music events. The expected growth has been reduced to some
extent but it will be unjustified to project this decrease in expected growth as an end of the UK
event industry. As a matter of fact, the event industry still able to continue its growth and is
expected to increase the rate in the near future.

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Reference
Bannerman, C., 2018. Long read: freedom of movement: what Brexit means for dance. LSE
Brexit.
Chan, T.W., Henderson, M., Sironi, M. and Kawalerowicz, J., 2017. Understanding the Social
and Cultural Bases of Brexit.
Deloitte United Kingdom., 2017. Almost 75m tickets sold for UK sports events in 2017. [online]
Available at: https://www2.deloitte.com/uk/en/pages/press-releases/articles/almost-75m-tickets-
sold-for-uk-sports-events-in-2017.html [Accessed 11 Aug. 2018].
Friedman G., 2016. 3 Reasons Brits Voted For Brexit. [online] Available at:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnmauldin/2016/07/05/3-reasons-brits-voted-for-brexit/
#316498b41f9d [Accessed 11Aug. 2018].
Giulianotti, R., Armstrong, G., Hales, G. and Hobbs, D., 2015. Sport mega-events and public
opposition: A sociological study of the London 2012 Olympics. Journal of Sport and Social
Issues, 39(2), pp.99-119.
Milt D. J., 2016. Brexit means discord for UK music festivals. [Online] Available at:
https://www.parcelhero.com/content/downloads/pdfs/brexit-festivals/festivalbrexitreport.pdf
[Accessed 11 Ausg. 2018]
Mittelhaus, M., 2017. BREXIT AND THE ARTS-AUGMENTING BARRIERS OR BRIDGING
DIVIDES?.