Events industry ‘staring into abyss’ over new Covid-19 rules

BRITAIN’S £35bn-a-year meetings and events industry is “staring into the abyss” because of a lack of clarity about the Government’s ban on gatherings of more than six people as it tries to control the pandemic.

Events organisers are reporting mass cancellations and predicting huge job losses in the sector, which directly employs or supports the roles of 700,000 people. Jane Longhurst, chief executive of the Meetings Industry Association, hit out at the “scrappy and incomplete” announcement earlier this week of new measures by Boris Johnson. She said: “It hasn’t actually defined what government is trying to do, and there’s no clarity, and it has completely shattered any confidence that anyone holding events had.”

The new rules, which come into force on Monday, ban social gatherings of more than six people, although they state there are “exceptions for work, education and training”. However, the guidance does not specify whether business meetings or training events between people from different firms are included in this.

Simon Hughes, chairman of the Business Visits and Events Partnership trade body, said: “People only hear the ‘six people limit’ part and think everything is banned; it’s created pandemonium.” He said the BVEP had been trying to get clarity, so far without success, from the Cabinet Office.

The industry had been working under the assumption that so-called “Covid secure” venues could hold events of up to 30 people. A review had been expected on Oct 1 that would have paved the way to larger events.

The new guidance has led the MIA to more than double its estimates of job losses from 18pc to 38pc – 266,000 positions. Ms Longhurst added: “I’m hearing from businesses which had been hoping to open up on Oct 1, who now say they will shut up shop forever. The sector is staring into the abyss.”