WE ARE RUNNING OUT OF TIME
Jane Longhust , chief executive of the Meetings Industry Association ( mia ), says that recent research presented to Government paints a bleak picture unless more help is given espite immediately recognising the potential impact of Covid-19 on our sector by swiftly launching our Extraordinary Matters series at the end of February 2020 , not one of us could have predicted the situation that we find ourselves in today .
From the introduction of revised operating terms to second waves , tiers , new variants and last-minute lockdowns , the ongoing unpredictability of what awaits us next remains a huge threat .
What comes with unpredictability , naturally , is the inability to plan and forecast accurately , which is why the Meetings Industry Association ( mia ) has been keeping a close eye on the impact of the pandemic on the business meetings and events sector . Our intelligence has informed the Government and supported our calls for policies and packages to aid our recovery , while we eagerly await the green light .
Our latest research suggests that business meetings and events organisations will only be viable for another seven and a half months if no further support is made available . For many , this may not come as surprising news , with average venue revenue losses to date reaching £ 2,560,000 .
With the majority ( 87 %) of organisations represented within our research making use of the Job Retention Scheme , while also utilising alternative support that has been provided , such as Business Rate Relief , government support has evidently provided vital compensation for many .
Despite this , however , redundancy rates continue to increase sadly as a means of survival , with an average 38 % of employees having been made redundant across each organisation represented within our
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