Cover story
Industry support
and funding
Denmark was one of the first
countries where government
stepped up to the plate to
provide compensation (€12m)
for event cancellations.
The European Commission
gave its approval quickly in
early March for the €12m state
aid programme put forward
by the Danes. The scheme will
compensate damages caused
by cancellations of large public
events due to the Covid-19
outbreak.
The scheme applies to
events for more than 1,000
participants and which were
cancelled due to the Covid-19.
This was the first state
aid measure notified by
an EU member state to the
Commission in relation to the
Covid-19 outbreak.
EEIA lobbies EU
for support
A web conference with
representatives of the
EU was organised by the
European Exhibition Industry
Alliance (EEIA), Brussels
on 17 March. A hundred
representatives of European
exhibition organisers and
service providers took part.
Eric Philippart, senior expert
of the Directorate-General
Grow asked participants in
the discussion to suggest how
companies in the exhibition
business affected by the corona
crisis could be helped better.
“Loans alone will not be
enough,” explained Barbara
Weizsäcker, General Secretary
of the EEIA, and reiterated the
demand for an EU emergency
fund. “The exhibition industry
20
Issue 2 2020
must fight to avoid shrinking
so that it can help business
recover,” Weizsäcker added.
The EEIA is an alliance of the
European UFI members and
the European Major Exhibition
Centres Association (Emeca).
All members were requested
to intensify lobbying at the
national level to obtain access
to funds and tailored measures
to be implemented quickly.
German support
programme
welcomed by
AUMA
The German government has
agreed an emergency relief
programme to reduce the
corona-induced economic
consequences for freelancers
and small businesses who will
be able to receive financial
benefits directly under the
plan.
German national tradefair
industry association AUMA’s
Managing Director Jörn
Holtmeier welcomed the news
on 25 March and said tradefairs
would need to play a crucial
role after the corona-crisis.
AUMA said the government
programme would assist
numerous players of the
tradefair industry: small
organisers with one or two
tradefairs annually, specialist
service providers like those
working in creative jobs, skilled
crafts and trades or freelance
contractors. Additionally, event
and conference organisers or
small catering companies are
set to benefit, too.
Holtmeier said: “Tradefairs
are complex eco-systems,
which only work if many
partners of different sizes
are co-operating. If, after
the coronavirus crisis, the
economy shall get started
again, platforms like tradefairs
will become necessary in order
to rebuild trust and strengthen
business relationships through
personal contact. Therefore,
the tradefair industry will
need all partners again –
with their usual quality and
creativeness. In order to
maintain this network of
partners the programme for
small businesses arrives just in
time.”
UK Chancellor
announces
£330bn of loans
Evidence of how quickly the
coronavirus threat moved
in the UK is illustrated by an
announcement on 12 March
by the UK government saying
it wasn’t advising a ban on
events, yet within 12 days
the country was in virtual
lockdown and the Chancellor
had announced £330bn of
loans to support business.
Gatherings in the UK of more
than two people at a time were
banned on 24 March. Support
for freelancers was also
subsequently announced.
Association initiative
AIPC, the International
Association of Convention
Centres and UFI, have made
their recently developed
Guide to Good Practices for the
management of Covid-19 health
and operational challenges,
available to all industry
members.
The Guide is a support
resource for developing better
management strategies.
“Our top priority at the
moment is the containment
of the Covid-19 outbreak, and
that means anything any of us
can do to enhance that effort
is a collective responsibility,” a
statement by the associations
said.
The 27-page document
incorporates advice,
suggestions, examples, and
tips focusing in particular on
new, updated and modified
information as opposed to
simply pre-existing, standard
health and safety controls and
crisis management measures.
The document incorporates
updated convention and
exhibition centre health
and safety policies and was
assembled with the support
of AIPC and UFI members.
The text also includes ‘live’
document links to allow
additional information to be
accessed directly.
“This Guide was developed
as a tool for our respective
members for management
of the Covid-19 outbreak in
the context of their venues;
however, early feedback has
made us realise that there are
many elements of its content
that apply to other aspects of
the overall event equation,”
said AIPC President Aloysius
Arlando. “We have therefore
decided to make it generally
available to anyone in the
industry that may find it of
use.”
“The top priority at the
moment for all of us is the
containment of the Covid-19
outbreak, and that means
anything any of us can do
to enhance that effort is a
collective responsibility,” said
UFI President Mary Larkin.
“Wherever we can share
relevant resources, we will
continue to do so.”
The Guide can be
downloaded free of charge
at www.aipc.org or the UFI
website.
w w w.exhibitionworld.co.uk