The Meetings Industry Association (mia), Association of Event Organisers (AEO), Association of Event Venues (AEV), and the Event Supplier and Services Association (ESSA), have today made the following joint statement.
The business events sector warmly welcomes today’s Prime Minister’s announcement that the sector will be able to reopen under the revised Tier system. This integrates the business events sector with sports and performing arts sectors, providing the consistency for which the associations have been fighting.
Since the start of the pandemic members of all four associations have worked tirelessly with their constituency MP’s and government officials to get the industry reopened. Today’s news provides welcome relief to many individuals and businesses hit hard when the industry was stopped suddenly in March 2020.
The dialogue between the four associations, government officials and ministers has never been stronger, clearly demonstrating that there is a safe way for business events to return by sharing knowledge and developments in both the guidance and the pilot events. Thanks is also due to all the government officials at DCMS and BEIS who have worked tirelessly with the associations to help business return safely.
The associations have also welcomed initiatives such as rapid testing and the deployment of vaccines, all of which will be needed to rebuild the position of economic powerhouse occupied by the sector before the pandemic.
Capacity limits remain in place, however, it has been demonstrated through the pilot events that it is now possible to build confidence across the customer base and, whilst the road to recovery will no doubt have a few bumps, this is a start.
