Latest rules ‘catastrophic’ for events sector
Barring gatherings of more than 50 until vaccine arrives a huge hit to tourism, entertainment
B.C.’s COVID-19 plan to reduce pandemic restrictions laid out a “worst-case scenario” for the conventions-and-events sector by barring gatherings of more than 50 people until there is a vaccine.
Premier John Horgan and the provincial health officer, Dr. Bonnie Henry, unveiled the plan Thursday, which allows for restaurants and pubs to start reopening as early as mid-May in the second phase of a four-phase scheme.
However, the possibility for conventions, concerts and pro sports are included in the fourth phase “to be determined” by the availability of a vaccine or broadly available, successful treatments for COVID-19, which could be 18 months away.
“It’s catastrophic ... for the meetings, conventions-and-events sector of our economy,” said Dave Gazely, vice-president of meeting and convention sales for Tourism Vancouver.
Gazely said that in 2019 Vancouver alone had some 500,000 convention guests among the 11 million tourists who visited the city.
Tourism Vancouver has tracked 100 convention cancellations since B.C. declared a state of emergency, representing some 64,000 visitors and an estimated $107 million in spending, “and counting,” said Gazely.
Nobody wants to push against the realities of the threat posed by COVID-19, said events promoter Nate Sabine, but “18 months is a lifetime in the events business, a lifetime for anybody to be out of business,” which he referred to as a “worstcase
scenario.”
“We were hoping for some sort of rolling timeline and perhaps a little less rigidity in these rules,” said Sabine, head of sponsorship and business development for Vancouver-based Blueprint Management Ltd., which operates live venues and promotes the annual FVDED music festival in Surrey.
That scenario might see the province promise to revisit the prospect of larger events at an earlier date, such as July 1, and if infections remain under control, “maybe look at reopening some spaces in the fall, or winter, or something,” Sabine said.
Gazely said the tourism industry “absolutely supports” the work that public health authorities have put into slowing the spread of the COVID-19 virus but is hoping for consideration to move forward as well.
“We know there are ways our industry can do it safely and we know there are a lot of smart people doing work right now to try and get us to that,” Gazely said.
Conventions and meetings alone in 2017 were a $500-million business for just Vancouver that supported more than 6,000 jobs, said Bridgette Anderson, CEO of the city’s board of trade.
“There’s no question there’s a lot of uncertainty for this entire sector that includes conferences and conventions, meetings, tourism, industry festivals, all kinds of sectors like that,” Anderson said. “And it looks like it’s going to be a prolonged recovery.”
However, “there is a fine balance where the science has to guide all of us in the business community where the health and safety of workers and the public is top-ofmind,” Anderson said.
Still, since the start of Phase 4 is undetermined, B.C. Chamber of Commerce CEO Val Litwin understands the pressure to revisit the timeline.
“We can’t pin a date on when we will have ... community immunity or a vaccine,”
Litwin said. “There should be ongoing evaluation based on the evolving best practices around how we keep people safe in spaces.”
The sheer size of Vancouver’s venues, such as the Vancouver Convention Centre, give meeting planners flexibility to hold larger events while still maintaining safe physical distancing, Gazely said.
We were hoping for some sort of rolling timeline and perhaps a little less rigidity in these rules.”
Promoter Nate Sabine
Attendance for rooms with a 1,000-person capacity could be limited to 500, Gazely said as an example, and meeting delegates could be further separated through controlled access points and traffic management.
“People in our industry are used to following instructions,” Gazely said.
No one from the convention centre was available for comment Thursday, but an unattributed statement from the group said they “continue to engage with all of our upcoming and impacted clients to find alternative scheduling options.”
Gazely said the industry has written a letter, that has the backing of 200 businesses in the sector, asking government to reconsider the timeline for reopening and “look for a middle ground.”