As we gathered earlier this week for a “family meeting”, many of us waited with bated breath to understand what government’s response will be to the 3rd Wave we are experiencing within our country. We have come to accept that when the “family” meets, we will experience some form of shift in pax numbers for “gatherings”, which the Business Events Industry unfortunately is defined as, under the Disaster Management Act.
The after effect of these “family meetings” are that many potential clients and attendees think that the industry is completely closed under the current COVID-19 restrictions. The general perception amongst industry peers are also that the industry is closed.
SAACI, at the recently held Annual National Congress, demonstrated that while the regulations are in some instances cumbersome, we can meet in-person, safely.
We do know that the financially viability requires consideration as the attendee numbers which are 100 for indoor and 250 outdoors, affecta the sustainability of companies and employees.
There are domestic opportunities which require exploring and we need to continue to build confidence in our industry while South Africa remains on “Red List” restricting travel to some countries abroad as well as intra-Africa travel.
While we accept the need to protect lives, we need to protect livelihoods and again encourage an improved vaccine roll-out programme by government.
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