Visit Sweden has cut meetings and events from its remit after Swedish government funding for the tourism organisation was slashed by 14 per cent, from £13.07m (140 million Swedish krona) to £11.16m (120 million krona).

Visit Sweden has cut staff numbers from 110 to 90, predominantly from the head office, in line with the budget cuts. It will retain foreign offices in 12 countries. Meetpie.com understands there will be no redundancies in the UK office, though some roles will change in line with the new, more leisure tourism focus.

The cuts will, however, affect Visit Sweden’s MICE activity in the UK, which has previously included a busy programme of buyer trips and events, plus membership of the Oysters collection of national tourism offices.

The changes will take place at the start of 2013 and it is unclear at this stage how other Swedish organisations and cities will market to the meetings and events sector from January.

In a statement, Thomas Brühl, CEO, Visit Sweden, said the meeting industry will continue to be supported by Visit Sweden’s general brand marketing.

"In view of the changed budgetary allocation, we chose to focus operations. We removed certain functions instead of making decreases across the business. We have tried to focus on the activities that drive the most nights and volume.”