This is a guest post from Deborah Kelly, Head of UK Sales at London & Partners, the Mayor’s official promotional agency for London

On 23 June 2016, the UK voted to leave the European Union. The decision was not the one many had hoped for and it brought with it a degree of uncertainty about what the future holds for our industry.

However, it is important to stress that so far, since the Brexit vote, our convention bureau has welcomed an increase in enquiries. This trend was echoed among many of our partners, who also said some international clients wanted to settle the bill early as London offered such good value for money.

To ensure London continues to be attractive to meetings and events, we need to show the world that London remains one of the most welcoming cities on the planet.

To do this, the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, launched the #LondonIsOpen campaign. #LondonIsOpen shows that London is open for business and that the city is entrepreneurial, international and full of creativity. It demonstrates to visitors, students and businesses that the Brexit vote won’t change London and the city will continue to welcome people from all over the globe.

#LondonIsOpen shows our industry that London will remain one of the best cities in the world for conferences, meetings and events.

London’s meetings and events industry has been going from strength to strength and, with the city offering great value, there has never been a better time to host an event here.

The latest full year figures available for the city show that, in 2015, London welcomed 3.7 million business visitors, up 13 per cent on the previous year, accounting for a spend of £3.2bn.

Over the last five years, London has also gone from 19th position to 5th in the International Congress and Convention Association’s rankings (ICCA), thanks to the convention bureau’s focus on London’s natural areas of expertise such as tech, the creative industries and life sciences.

This means that the capital has, in particular, become very attractive for medical meetings and congresses, with high-profile associations such as the European Society of Cardiology, the European Respiratory Society and the European Association of Urology choosing the city for their events.

ExCeL London also reported that 2017 would be its best year yet for North American meetings planners, with the likes of Salesforce, AAIC (Alzheimer’s Association International Conference), AAPG (American Association of Petroleum Geologists) and Strata + Hadoop choosing the venue.

But London is not resting on its laurels and continues to improve its offer, attracting even more meetings and events to the capital.

London is already one of the most accessible cities on the planet, with six international airports providing direct flights to over 390 destinations around the world, and an international rail station allowing passengers to get to the city from the continent in just over two hours.

Now, major infrastructure projects are taking place all over London, which will make it even easier to get to the city and to travel within in.

The highly anticipated CrossRail development, with services set to be introduced in late 2018, will improve journey times across London and offer better connections. The Elizabeth Line, as the project has been officially called, will be of particular benefit to event attendees arriving into Heathrow Airport and travelling towards central London and the Docklands, with journey times to ExCeL London reduced to just over 40 minutes, half of what it currently takes.

London’s all-night Underground service, the Night Tube, has now been rolled out across five lines, and operates a 24h service on Fridays and Saturdays

A lot is also happening on the venue and accommodation front.

This year we’ll see a plethora of new hotels open – adding thousands of bedrooms to London’s dynamic hotel scene. Exciting launches include the Four Seasons at Ten Trinity Square, which opened in January, and The Lalit London, the group’s first property outside of India. The Ned Hotel in The City, and Nobu Hospitality’s first European hotel, the Nobu Hotel Shoreditch are also set to open early 2017.

This is in addition to new spaces such as etc.venues’ new space at County Hall, featuring 43,000 sq ft of event space divided in to 20 rooms overlooking the Thames. London’s arts and cultural institutions are also heavily investing in their venue space. Last year, the Design Museum and the Tate Modern both completed ambitious projects, which means new spaces for event organisers to discover and even more reasons for delegates to return to London.

In the sporting arena, the London Stadium, located in the south of Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and home to West Ham United Football Club, is now open for meetings and events, with mini-tours offered for event attendees.

Over the next few years, both Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea football clubs will build new stadiums. Tottenham Hotspur is seeking to transform its ground into a sport and entertainment destination, redefining the fan experience and offering state-of-the-art facilities for event planners. Meanwhile, Chelsea Football Club has been given the go ahead to rebuild Stamford Bridge, extending spectator capacity and doubling corporate seating.

In recent years, London has become a hub for food lovers and event planners and attendees will be spoilt for choice with the array of new restaurants and bars. Highlights to the dining scene include Monica Galletti’s Mere, SUSHISAMBA’s second London restaurant expected to launch in Covent Garden’s famed Opera Terrace later in the year and Hawksmoor’s new branch in Borough.

Whether it is for its business expertise or for what it can bring to the delegate experience, there is no doubt London is a top contender on the meetings and events market, and will continue to attract events and delegates from all over the world.

Our convention bureau team looks forward to carrying on working closely with our partners across the city to show the world that #LondonIsOpen.