Visit Britain, aka the British Tourist Authority, has released news of their push to make Britain a preeminent choice for MICE events on the world stage.

By hooking up 80 meetings and event specialists and suppliers with 120 suppliers from buyers in France, Germany and North America as well as Belgium, Austria, Spain and Switzerland, at MeetGB in London on April 16th the association will hope to keep the UK in the forefront of event planners minds, in light of the nations’ departure from the EU on March 29th 2019 — just a year away.

The news comes following the launch last month of  Visit Britain’s ‘I Travel For…’ a global campaign to drive inbound tourism to the country during 2018.

Discussing the MeetGB promotion, VisitBritain/VisitEngland’s chief executive Sally Balcombe (main picture) said: “MeetGB will showcase to global buyers the breadth and quality of the UK’s meetings and events industry, demonstrating our fantastic infrastructure, our ease of access and the quality on offer across so many destinations for the international business events market.

“MeetGB will showcase… the breadth and quality of the UK’s meetings and events industry”

“This flagship event gives our suppliers and local destinations the chance to get their products in front of top global buyers, forge valuable business connections and ultimately bring more international conferences, meetings and business events to the UK, boosting the economy.”

MeetGB will host a series of seminars, workshops and network events focusing on raising awareness of innovations in the MICE sector, to help boost their knowledge of the UK as a business events destination.

Tourism Minister Michael Ellis (above) said: “Events like MeetGB help us promote Britain as a premier destination for business events. This is a great opportunity for British businesses to build new global relationships, bring more international conferences to the country and attract greater inward investment.”

VisitBritain promotes business events worldwide, under the Events are GREAT brand, part of the UK Government’s GREAT Britain campaign, which replaced Britain for Events in 2016.

Events are GREAT was established as part of the £60m GREAT campaign, to highlight destinations and products, highlighting its history of research, innovation and high-quality infrastructure, positioning it as a leading destination for business events.