The European Meetings and Events Conference is Heading to England

The EMEC, Meeting Professional International’s signature education event in Europe, will be held in Brighton, England, in 2021, MPI announced Wednesday.

VisitBrighton, the official tourism organization for the city of Brighton & Hove, and the IMEX Group, MPI’s key strategic partner, submitted a joint bid to host MPI’s European gathering devoted to education, networking and business exchanges.

The event will be held at the Hilton Brighton Metropole, said Julie Gallagher, head of sales, partnership and marketing for VisitBrighton. This will be the second time EMEC has been in the UK as the event took place in London in 2008.

“We’re thrilled,” Gallagher said. “We decided to bid for EMEC as it’s the must-attend event for European meeting planners. Hosting such a key event in the meetings diary gives Brighton and the UK an amazing opportunity to showcase our fantastic meeting facilities to an unrivaled audience.”

Brighton & Hove, about 60 minutes from London, is home to the IMEX Group and “there are great synergies within the city to enable us to deliver an outstanding event. The stars really did align for us,” Gallagher added.

Darren Temple, MPI’s chief operations officer, said the relationship with the IMEX Group and location equaled an ideal opportunity.

“MPI is very excited to bring MEC to the UK and more specifically Brighton,” he said. “We have our strongest strategic partnership with the IMEX Group and due to that partnership, we believe EMEC 2021 will be one of the best and most successful ever.

He said Ray Bloom, chair and founder of the IMEX Group, and Carina Bauer, CEO, have been excellent partners while the proximity to London and access from Europe will be a positive factor in driving attendance.

Gallagher said attendees can expect to be fully immersed in a “Brighton experience.”

“We’re a city buzzing with history, culture, vibrancy and a desire to do things differently so we can guarantee we’ll deliver a program that will engage and inspire delegates,” she said. “The UK is a great place to hold business events, so it’s important to the meetings industry community to bring the event to England.”

Business events bring in considerable economic and social benefits to the UK, with business visitors making up almost a quarter of all international visits in 2018—amounting to 8.4 million visits—with delegates spending $5.5 billion while here. Almost half of those who come on business return as leisure visitors at a later date, often bringing family and friends along with them, “so it’s critical for England to host the signature European MPI event, which will demonstrate why it’s great to host events in England.”

The next EMEC will be Feb. 9-11, 2020, in Sevilla, Spain, before moving to England the following year.