Scotland’s Event Industry Advisory Group (EIAG) met last Friday (20 May) to discuss a number of areas including the Scottish Government’s Strategic Framework, sector recovery, current operational challenges and the future outlook for events.
The Group heard from Scottish Government officials who updated that since the last meeting COVID-19 restrictions had now been removed, however advice still remained for face coverings to be worn in some settings, and free COVID-19 testing had also ended. The Scottish Government’s guidance has been updated to reflect these changes, with guidance now streamlined into two strands, one for the public and one for businesses.
An update was also provided on the ongoing work on further guidance from the Scottish Government on building and maintaining economic resilience from pandemics now and in the future. The events industry, including members of the EIAG, have been providing feedback on this as part of the consultation process.
The Group provided feedback on the issues facing the sector, now and in the future, including the rise in delivery costs, particularly the rise in energy costs, the impacts of the cost of living, supply chain issues, delay in ticket purchasing, ScotRail travel disruption and the impact this will have on live events, and public confidence in attending events.
Scottish Government officials acknowledged the issues and said Ministers were very conscious of the challenges still being faced in the sector.
The Group then heard from EventScotland who provided an update on the recent multi-channel marketing campaign, ‘The Buzz is Back’, and COVID-19 funding schemes which have now closed.
Members of the Group were also thanked for their input into Napier University’s research into the event industry’s path to net zero, with discussions for a subgroup to be established on this issue to help highlight best practice and learnings for the industry.
The next meeting of the EIAG will take place on Tuesday 5 July 2022.
Representatives from the sector can email EIAG@eventscotland.org for further outputs from the group and to raise any points for future consideration.
Article published 27/05/2022