Welcome to the mid-Weekly Wrap.
Events are coming back and I’ve been busy – a good position to be in. So the wrap will now be random – and sometimes mid-week.
But on Monday night I took the opportunity to watch the Platinum Jubilee Concert and here is my take on it.
The Platinum Jubilee Concert was produced by the BBC and goes to show what can be achieved when a national broadcaster is properly funded. Sure the British Tories have attacked funding for the BBC but not to the same extent that the Australian Tories have gutted the ABC. Remember it was Ric Birch as the producer of the ABC coverage of the 1982 Brisbane Commonwealth Games who introduced Matilda, the giant kangaroo, and changed the format of Games opening ceremonies forever.
Following the election we now have a new minister for Trade and Tourism – Senator Don Farrell, who has been welcomed by BECA.
BECA welcomes new Minister for Trade and Tourism
Minister Farrell proactively maintained close engagement with the business events industry via BECA while in opposition and is acutely aware of the devastation that COVID-19 restrictions placed on both international and domestic markets and the businesses that support the sector.
Meanwhile Gary Fitz-Roy is hoping the new minister will follow up on the Business Events Grants program
Will the new minister to look into the Business Events Grants?
Last year ASE reported on the previous government’s Business Event Grants program, and the fact that there seems to be no accountability regarding how the grants were used, or more importantly if unused grants were returned.
Staffing is now a big issue all round, so much so that the MCEC has closed their books for the rest of the year. A MCEC spokesperson told ASE
“Demand for events at MCEC has bounced back much quicker than expected post-pandemic, which is a great problem to have.
The pent-up demand for events means we’re now at capacity for 2022.
As with all businesses across Australia, staffing is challenging in the current environment, but we’re doing everything we can to attract new employees and have had success attracting hundreds of new full-time and casual team members since the beginning of this year.
We continuously review our event pipeline and if circumstances change before the end of the year, we will notify our customers who have made enquiries for this period.”
And as we reported recently Navarra Venues where underwhelmed when they offered training with guaranteed work.
‘Living with COVID’ – Event hospitality still in metamorphosis
Last October NSW Premier Perrottet’s reopening of the state of NSW was met with celebration. As we emerged double vaccinated to ‘live with Covid’ we all anticipated getting back to normalcy, however, the hospitality industry is still cocooned waiting to fully emerge from the impact of multiple lockdowns.
Gary Fitz-Roy is not impressed with the approach taken by some venues and suppliers.
My company has recently completed several events across three states and we have another in the next two weeks. I am left wondering when will the industry stop using covid as an excuse for poor service, increased costs and haphazard delivery.
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