Death by a thousand taxes: How Britain priced itself out of valuable meetings 

An accumulation of levies, duties and rates has effectively priced the UK out of the lucrative meetings business – a sector it was once a world leader in.

This was revealed in the Culture, Media and Sport Committee’s report on business events, published on Monday (6 July)

Faye Dyer, Chief Executive of The ACC Liverpool Group, told MPs that the UK ranked 113 out of 119 countries on the World Economic Forum’s cost competitiveness index for travel and tourism in 2024. From world leader to seventh from bottom.

Dyer itemised the accumulation of costs for the committee, including the Electronic Travel Authorisation, air passenger duty, the VAT rate on hotels and restaurants, and business rates, which she described as “pretty horrific”.

She noted that each adds a layer of cost to every delegate, every exhibitor, every crate of equipment shipped to a UK exhibition hall.

David Tremmil, Vice-Chair of UKEvents, put it more plainly still as he noted that UK ha now become “an expensive place to do events”. He further warned that the country was “starting to seriously price ourselves out of the marketplace”.

Costs set to grow

A key concern is that costs are set to grow further. The committee flagged the proposed Overnight Visitor Levy landing on top of a VAT rate for overnight accommodation already far higher than most competitor nations.

One of the key reasons that these costs have blown out so much in recent years is that each of these charges belongs to a different department. The Treasury sees APD as aviation revenue. Local government sees a visitor levy as devolved funding. The Home Office sees the ETA as border security.

Nobody in Whitehall is responsible for adding up the total, which has led to a situation where it has become prohibitively expensive for businesses to come over and conduct meetings here.

Ironically, some of those who are adding it up are the UK’s competitors.

The committee heard that rival destinations were actively using UK costs and friction in their bids, deterring organisers from choosing Britain.

When a convention bureau in Vienna or Barcelona pitches against London or Manchester, the UK’s costs are being actively included as a slide in the deck to persuade potential customers.

Internal travel costs were also named as key issue around rising costs.

Dyer told MPs that UK regions lacked the “ease, reliability and speed” of transport from key hubs that European competitors offer, pointing to the Liverpool to Manchester railway as the kind of project needed to unlock regional potential.

An international delegate can land in Frankfurt or Amsterdam and be at a regional convention centre within an hour on a train that runs on time, whereas the UK equivalent is seen as a gamble.

Reforms needed

The committee’s recommendation was that the government “urgently review” the cumulative cost pressures – including VAT, APD, ETA, business rates – and accelerate regional transport investment to match leading European destinations.

Reviewing any one tax in isolation reproduces the original failure: a system in which every department can defend its own charge while the country as a whole prices itself out of a growing global market.

Britain does not need to be the cheapest destination in Europe. But 113th out of 119 is a massive fall from grace.

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