A trip by a five-man delegation from Birmingham City Council to the south of France for the Mipim property event cost more than £200,000.
The trip to the Cannes real estate trade fair racked up more than £6,000 in overnight accommodation costs and more than £1,000 in travel costs.
The bill included a £3,075 bill for an evening reception entertaining 18 guests, the council has confirmed.
These costs were on top of £80,000 for a stand at the event, and around £120,000 to hire space at the event – but Birmingham City Council said those costs were not met solely by the city council but shared between it and its partners.
The Taxpayers’ Alliance has condemned the trip, saying: “Too often council chiefs go on overseas jollies on the very nebulous grounds that they are doing it to bring jobs to their local patch. But there is very little survey evidence to suggest it actually does that.
“Now we are in the middle of a recession council chiefs should be doing as much as they can to save taxpayers’ money and also create jobs on the ground. The way to do that is to stay in their local patch and bring business in.”
But Birmingham City Council said the trip had secured a great amount of investment and created hundreds of jobs. A spokesman said: “The cost of the stand itself was not met solely by the council but funded through the entire group of partners.
“Last year as a direct result of a trip to Mipim we did a deal with Amey that secured 500 jobs for the city.”
