Skip to main content

SAVING THE EVENTS INDUSTRY IN WALES

ICC Wales - ICC Wales - International Convention Centre Wales - Product  Directory - IBTM World

A cartoon published at the beginning of the Covid-19 shutdown showed a sad looking man standing at the Pearly Gates to heaven.

St Peter is checking the ledger and looks up to the man stating  “Says here that you should be in hell but since you were in the events industry during coronavirus, we’ll count that as time served”.

Not the best joke ever but the sentiments are real for anyone working in any events-oriented business during the last five months with social distancing rules having made any conference, business dinner or networking event impossible to undertake.

This hiatus will have had a serious economic impact in the UK given that the overall events industry is estimated to be worth £70 billion in direct spend, accounting for over 50% of the UK visitor economy. 

Whilst £39 billion of this comes from leisure (including arts and cultural events, music events and festivals) and sporting events, over £31 billion of the total is actually generated from business events, meetings, conferences, and exhibitions.

In addition, there are over 5 million inbound visits to the UK annually to attend a business event, generating almost 20 million overnight stays and a spend of £3.5 billion every year.

More relevantly, the industry is estimated to employ over 570,000 people although given the banning of live events, most of these individuals have been put on furlough. This means that if the industry does not reopen soon, many are likely to lose their jobs over the next few months. 

This not only includes those employed in large venues such as ICC Wales, the Motorpoint Arena and Venue Cymru but also those working in supply chain businesses in sectors such as food production, audio visual production, equipment hire and entertainment, many of whom are self-employed or small businesses.

So what are politicians doing about this situation? 

According to the latest guidelines from the UK Government, business events conferences and event centres in England will be given the go ahead to reopen on October 1st. They will need to adhere to social distancing with pilots taking place soon to prepare for a return to large scale events by testing various social distancing practices.

In addition, the Department for Digital Culture, Media and Sport and the Association of Event Organisers have published guidance that will help event organisers, venue operators and participants understand how they can work and host business events and conferences and keep both their guests and staff safe. 

However, whilst there is again a clear roadmap for event organisers in England to recommence operations, there seems to be no specific guidance for the industry here in Wales. 

Whilst the Welsh events industry came together to present a detailed strategic approach to reopening back in July, there seems to have been little progress by ministers and civil servants in Cardiff bay in responding positively to proposals that specifically focused on the introduction of enhanced safety measures as venues adapted their facilities and protocols to prioritise social distancing. 

In particular, all venues would also need to undertake a Covid-19 risk assessment prior to any re-opening, enabling them to create bespoke events that deliver the best possible experience within new safety parameters. Indeed, it is argued that the one metre plus rule currently in operation within restaurants would be far easier to implement given the organised nature of the vast majority of events.

It all seems logical especially when based on best practice, but there has been largely silence on this proposal apart from informal advice that events should instead seek to go online. 

Is this acceptable? Whilst other parts of the UK have been given guidelines for a return to business events by the Autumn, there has been almost nothing from the Welsh Government to indicate that similar actions will be taken here in Wales. 

As with the delays in reopening the tourism and hospitality industry, there seems to be a lack of understanding of how businesses in the sector operate. Not only does any event needs to have a clear timeline for its preparation and execution but any delay will ensure that other venues across the border which are in competition with those in Wales will gain a competitive advantage if they can open earlier. 

It will also undoubtedly have an impact on client and visitor confidence and, more importantly, any further delay could lead to a devastating impact on those hundreds of small businesses that supply the industry, especially at a time when the furlough scheme is ending.

The events industry was the first industry to be affected by the Covid 19 pandemic and, arguably, the one hit hardest over the last five months. It will also be amongst the last to be allowed to return to business given the people-centric nature of its operations. 

Whilst other parts of the UK are moving forward with a clear roadmap for reopening the industry, there seems to be a reluctance by Welsh politicians, advisers and civil servants to trust businesses to do everything they can to operate safely within the current regulations. 

As a result, Wales is lagging behind despite clear guidance from businesses as to how they will operate safely to protect their employees and clients whilst reopening their businesses. 

Let’s hope that as they come back from their annual summer holidays, those in charge of the Welsh economy will ensure that the events industry gets the same hearing that other sectors have had, albeit belatedly, during the last few weeks and it can resume operations as soon as possible.

Popular posts from this blog

THE IMPORTANCE OF FRANCHISING

When we talk about start-ups and entrepreneurship, rarely do we discuss the potential of franchising not only as a way of establishing new ventures in the economy but also as a method of growing existing businesses. According to the British Franchising Association, franchising is the granting of a licence by one person (the franchisor) to another (the franchisee), which entitles the franchisee to own and operate their own business under the brand, systems and proven business model of the franchisor. The franchisee also receives initial training and ongoing support, comprising all the elements necessary to establish a previously untrained person in the business. This enables individuals to start their own businesses without having to develop their own ideas and utilising an existing brand and established market. Of course, whilst each franchise business is owned and operated by the franchisee, the franchisor controls the quality and standards of the way in which the business is

THE MANUFACTURING STRATEGY FOR WALES

Last night, I received the following comment on the previous post relating to a piece I had written back in early 2007 about the state of the manufacturing sector in Wales. "Dylan, you seem to be ignoring the fact that manufacturers in Wales have written the manufacturing strategy. Small and large manufacturers, all represented at the Manufacturing forum, have co-written this strategy. WAG has recently supported this strategy and have funded a co-ordinator with resources. Manufactures are happy with this progress as they are following the strategy they wanted. I know that the Conservatives have attacked the strategy as they seem to think that WAG wrote the strategy. They couldn't be more wrong. The Manufacturing Strategy was written by manufacturers, for manufacturers and is supported by WAG. If you don't agree with this, then I can invite you to the next Manufacturing Forum and you can explain to the manufacturers how their strategy is wrong....I appreciate that there is

THE PERFECT STORM FACING THE UK ECONOMY

In his sublime 1997 book on the fate of the fishing boat Andrea Gale, the author Sebastian Junger defined a “perfect storm” as a rare combination of events or circumstances that results in an unusually bad situation.  This term would not be out of place in describing what is currently happening to the UK economy which is being battered on so many fronts with little respite in sight. For example, the war in Ukraine has had an unexpected impact on energy bills in Europe due to the curtailing of exports from Russia which, last year, was responsible for supplying 40% of all natural gas to the European Union. Whilst the UK is not dependent on Russia for its energy needs, the scramble by other countries to find alternative sources has resulted in higher prices globally which has impacted on the fuel imported by the UK with normal suppliers struggling to meet demand. There have also been considerable supply constraints globally which have been driven by manufacturers struggling to get their g