brand logo

A killer blow for events industry

11 Oct 2020

By Uwin Lugoda The new cluster of coronavirus infections, which has been spreading across Sri Lanka, and its ramifications may prove fatal to some companies in the local events industry, according to industry leaders. According to Event Management Association (EMA) Vice President Kamesh Malwana, event management companies are back in the deep-end due to the cancellations that took place following the most recent outbreak. Speaking to The Sunday Morning Business, he explained that most event management companies were just beginning to recover from the initial Covid-19 outbreak in March 2020, with (with each company having) five to six confirmed events and more pending. However, with the resurgence of the virus, these companies are now suffering a mass cancellation of events. “The industry was just picking up after the last lockdown and we were waiting for December, during which time we usually have the most events. But now we are losing our income all over again with this situation,” he said. Malwana stated that some companies have already shut down due to bankruptcy while others are mainly managing from their personal savings. He stated that the industry has been suffering consecutively for the past two years, firstly due to the Easter Sunday attack in 2019 and now due to the pandemic. “We are among the first to be affected by these tragedies, so we are hoping the Government will give us a helping hand in order to restart our industry. If not, this will lead to more unemployment from the event management sector,” he added. Similar to Malwana, The Hotels Association of Sri Lanka (THASL) President Sanath Ukwatte also lamented the cancellation of events scheduled to be held at hotels. He explained that the new cluster of cases has had adverse effects on the industry, which was solely depending on the local market. “A lot of events have been cancelled, both current ones and others that were booked for the future, like weddings. People are very reluctant to have events in the current environment. But we understand the need for restrictions since the safety of the country is our priority, so we need to take stock of the situation and then find a solution from there,” he emphasised. However, Malwana stated that the association has already written to the Ministry of Health, requesting a meeting to discuss the guidelines for events. He agreed that they need to enforce strict guidelines and this should be done in consultation with the EMA. He stated that the industry will also need a grace period on making payments to banks and financial institutions as the moratorium will not help due to the interest being accumulated. “Business will not come up all at once; it will take some time to gradually pick up again. So the Government will have to help our industry with the current situation because it is practically impossible for us to pay salaries and (bear) other expenses without any income. Unlike other industries, ours is one of the first to be affected in situations like this,” he added. Local authorities announced a ban to all public gatherings on 6 October, following the detection of a new Covid-19 cluster which brought the total number of confirmed cases to 4,252 as of 8 October. The Government then revised the timeline of public activities on 7 October. The timeline stated that public activities from 4 October to 31 October will have to strictly follow the new normal procedures. It categorised public activities into four segments of “No Operations”, “Higher Restrictions”, “Restricted”, and “Normal Operations”, with primarily only weddings and funerals allowed to continue, with general measures of physical distancing, respiratory etiquette, hand washing, and wearing face masks applying to all of them.


More News..