BVEP chair to lobby tourism minister John Penrose on business strategy

Magda Ibrahim , 27 July 2010

Business Visits & Events Partnership chairman Michael Hirst hopes to identify ways to grow the events sector at a meeting with tourism minister John Penrose next month.

Business Visits & Events Partnership chairman Michael Hirst is meeting Department for Culture, Media and Sport minister John Penrose as part of a government toursim strategy review.

Penrose is expected to report on his tourism review in September, and Hirst is to meet with the minister next month to discuss the role of business tourism and events.

Hirst said: "We would hope that government would continue to maintain a strong unit solely involved in the business visits and events sector."

DCMS announced yesterday (26 July) that it is undertaking a review of the roles and functions of Visit Britain and Visit England. Plans could include a merger and increased focus on gaining private sector funding.

Visit Britain has an established partnership with BVEP and Hirst added: "We want to avoid duplication [between Visit Britain and Visit England] but want to identify opportunities to grow the sector and help practitioners go out to get the business. I will be making representations that whatever comes out of the review, there should still be a strong resource for this."