11 SIC Codes communications activities ’, ‘ 79120 - Tour operator activities ’ and ‘ 70229 - Management consultancy activities other than financial management ’.
Only four of the agencies ( including some of the largest ) were using one of the event-assigned codes .
At this juncture you will correctly remind me that this is expected , as there are insufficient codes , but all of the agencies I selected do involve themselves with conferences , so why not select that code , which is available ? Businesses can select multiple codes , not just one .
That , though , is beside the point . The real issue here is that every events business that has not registered as one of the three events-assigned SIC codes ( regardless of their accuracy ), is essentially contributing to other sectors . SIC codes are the tools in which a sector is measured .
When the Chancellor of the Exchequer , Rishi Sunak , was going through his list of which sectors he saves and which he doesn ’ t see as worthy of saving ( in terms of their financial weight ), he was unwittingly looking at other sectors which have been inflated by events business . This is no truer than with hotels in the hospitality sector . I do not have any official statistics , but we all know many events take place in hotels , either for the day or over multiple days .
As you would expect , most of the hotels I checked out on Companies House are registered as ‘ 55100 - Hotels and similar accommodation ’, although weirdly not all . Some are also registered as ‘ 68209 - Other letting and operating of own or leased real estate ’. I don ’ t know why .
So , every time you pay your hotel venue for the events space , that money is not being viewed as event revenue in the eyes of the Treasury , but rather just making it look as if lots of people are staying at hotels . The same is true of sporting venues such as stadiums , which use event revenue as a secondary stream .
Venues which exist solely to service events are a mixed bag with how they are registered , only two on my list are related to the events industry . Some I couldn ’ t even find .
Then there are those on the supply side of the industry , such as those providing event technology , exhibition stand building , signage and so on . Catering , mercifully , does have its very own SIC code , although one of the country ’ s largest contractors doesn ’ t actually use it .
Dedicated organisers , albeit more on the exhibitions side than conferences , are the group which consistently uses the assigned SIC codes , perhaps unsurprisingly . There are a few weird ones , such as one organsier of note registering themselves as ‘ 64209 - Activities of other holding companies not elsewhere classified ’.
Ideally , what we want is for every business operating in the event supply chain to register themselves as an events business on the available codes in the short term ,
‘ Every time you pay your hotel venue for the events space , that money is not being viewed as event revenue in the eyes of the Treasury ... it just looks like lots of people are staying at hotels ’ but it is understandable that some may want to do the opposite .
What the Government must do
God forbid anything like this were to happen again , but people are going to look back at what businesses the Government decided to save during Covid-19 . Why would they willingly assign themselves to a sector that was essentially ignored ? Unless we all re-register using the available codes to show the strength of our sector , I can ’ t see that changing .
It is now critical that the Government works with the events industry to rework these codes . I have given it extensive thought and I calculate that we need 35 codes to adequately administrate the industry . If the Government can help facilitate that , we will take the onus of a PR campaign and ensure that businesses can change codes .
The Government will not pay attention to us when we tell them the events industry as a whole is ( or was ) worth £ 84bn to the UK economy each year . They are only interested in what the audited accounts on Companies House tells them and , right now , we are telling them we don ’ t exist . CN
Events industry value , pre-pandemic
Sub-sector
Conferences and meetings Exhibitions and trade fairs Incentive travel Corporate outdoor events Arts and cultural events Festivals , fairs and shows Music events Sporting events Weddings
TOTAL DIRECT SPEND
Direct spend
£ 18.3bn £ 11bn £ 1.2bn £ 0.7bn £ 5.6bn £ 6bn £ 17.6bn £ 9.6bn £ 14bn
£ 84bn
Source : BVEP , UK Events Report , March 2020 www . conference-news . co . uk