At the most recent Senior Events Industry Leaders Panel held with the Minister of Tourism, Nigel Huddleston MP, industry leaders voiced their concerns, about the critical importance of a date for reopening to be given, if further damage to an already fragile Industry was to be avoided. Industry leaders said a go date was essential as for many events, at least eight to twelve weeks, was necessary for planning purposes.

This Thursday 25th June 2020, a petition calling for the UK government to provide economic assistance to businesses and staff employed by the UK events industry will finally be debated in the House of Commons. The BVEP encouraged all our partners to sign the petition and in the end 153,152 people from across the industry did so. So far, so good.

The Business Visits & Events Partnership (BVEP), the advocacy group for the UK’s £70 billion events industry, has today welcomed the relaxation of the current two metre physical distancing rule and the planned opening of parts of the sector, but has called ‘shameful’ the fact that events were not specifically referred to in the Prime Ministers statement in the House of Commons today.

The Petitions Committee, which is the group of MPs who oversee the petitions system, is to debate a petition, signed by many in the industry, on “Government to offer economic assistance to the events industry during COVID-19”.

Further delay could cost over £53 billion of GDP and the loss of over 500,000 jobs

The Business Visits & Events Partnership, the advocacy group for the UK’s £70 billion events industry, has today warned of ‘a catastrophic and irreversible’ impact to the industry if the government further delay publishing clear and practical guidelines on the opening of the UK’s vital events sector and relax the current two metre physical distancing rule.