Surviving is current endurance test for events firm
WHEN your business is events and it relies on people travelling from around the globe to take part, then it is inevitable that the Covid-19 lockdown is going to have a disastrous impact, potentially for the rest of the year.
That is the position of Always Aim High, an endurance event specialist based in Llangefni, Anglesey that has become a market leader in its field.
While non-essential retail should reopen this month and limited tourism and hospitality will hopefully launch next month, there’s no prospect yet for large gatherings to start anytime soon.
Even when the guidelines change, the company says the biggest challenge will be reassuring the communities where their events are happening and getting the message out that Wales remains a welcoming place.
Director Tim Lloyd, who employs 10 permanent staff and uses many more during events, said: “We have been brought to a complete standstill and we don’t know when we will be allowed to restart.
“For now, the focus is on survival in this challenging time but we hope once this is over we can come out stronger.
“Staff have gone on furlough and like the whole tourism sector we face the prospect of three winters in a row.
“The support has been there – we have used furlough and had money from Welsh Government from the Economic Resilience Fund. Without it, we would be in dire straits.”
Looking forward, they are now awaiting guidance so that they can begin to plan how they can start to operate again. With furlough support due to be tapered down in the coming months then unless they can start to put on events they will face some difficult choices.
Tim said: “We are just one example of the many businesses that rely on visitors, on tourism.
“We all need more guidance, the whole sector is in crisis.
“We are looking at different ways of working and everything has been put off until September but even then we don’t know what the situation will be. We have to make decisions, we have to try to look after staff but we would hate this to put us out of business – that is a real risk the longer this goes on.”
Outside the official Government guidance, two issues concern them: community reaction to large-scale events and the external perception of Wales after lockdown.
He said: “The biggest concern is local communities. If everyone comes to an event at a local village, what will the response be? We don’t want to cause issues locally unless the community is ready; we have to heed their wishes.
“We also need to see a change in communication from the ‘Wales is closed’ message, otherwise the longterm damage could be catastrophic.
“We have spent a lot of time breaking down the myth that Wales is not welcoming to people. We need to be careful we don’t go backwards on this, on the language we use in messaging.”
Locally, Tim wants the message to go out about supporting local businesses where possible.
He said: “Support local rather than buy online; there are so many brilliant business that are great value but some people are in the habit of buying online.
“Please make the effort to support local businesses.”