As the principal association for the meetings and events industry, MIA has been engaging with its members to find out more about how COVID-19 may be having an impact upon organisations.
UK Venue Survey - 18 August 2020
The business meeting and events sector has been completely knocked off of its feet and decimated by the impacts of COVID-19. Huge financial losses, which are largely uncovered by insurance, have been endured by the industry, and while events now being permitted for up to 30 people in COVID-Secure venues, we are yet to see the green shoots of recovery.
As the furlough scheme comes to an end before many venues are able to reopen in October, and most estimate that it could take at least 12-18 months, if not longer, for the sector to recover to pre-COVID levels, findings illustrate that government intervention is urgently required.
Social Distancing Survey - 9 June 2020
As part of our continued liaison with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS), a second social distancing survey was developed and findings supplied to the government on 9 June 2020 to contribute to their intelligence.
With the reduction in distancing measures expected to provide productivity gains, 35% of respondents also stressed that they would only break-even if social distancing restrictions were lifted in their entirety. By comparison, 38% would break-even if restrictions were reduced to 1m, while 23% do not forecast to break-even in any scenario where restrictions are altered.
Social Distancing Survey - 1 May 2020
Following an urgent request on 28 April 2020 to provide information to DCMS, a survey was prepared to ask members to consider the effects of social distancing on their businesses.
From the research, the majority (82%) of venues confirmed they can operate with social distancing measures in place. In reality, nearly half (46%) of respondents identified that their venue’s capacity would have to be more than halved, with 27% highlighting a reduction of between 41-50% would be required. As a result of these reduced capacities, 59% of venues would not break even and over 80% expect to lose more than half of their turnover per month, so the sector will require continued government support.
