British Columbia’s non-ticketed event industry including but not limited to weddings has shifted and molded to adhere to the everchanging Public Health Orders (PHO’s) implemented by the BC Provincial Government throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. All businesses are struggling through the recovery phase of the pandemic; however, the wedding and event industry in BC has yet to see financial support from the Provincial Government to ensure their successful reopening and economic recovery.
The Provincial Government’s lack of communication with industry professionals as well as ambiguous definitions and confusing terminology have led the wedding and non-ticketed event industry to suffer. Despite the lack of direction on creating industry specific work safe protocols, industry professionals including but not limited to professional event planners have paid immaculate attention to the ever changing PHOs to keep the public safe.
Background
In 2020, COVID-19 spread round the globe, halting the continued growth of many industries in British Columbia. Throughout the past two years, COVID-19 created an economic crisis that caused and continues to cause many businesses to close or reduce their operations. In example, in the year previous, 2019 saw nearly 24,000 weddings in BC with the average cost of a wedding being $50,000. This means $1.2 billion in revenue generated right here in BC.1 This does not even account for the rest of the provincial event industry.
The everchanging PHOs during the COVID-19 pandemic, lack of communication and specific work safe protocols, have caused the wedding and events industry to lose 70%-90% in revenue.2 This is largely due to the unique nature of the industry as negative effects due to cancellations, postponements, etc.…are seen six to twelve months after closures as the industry cannot safely reopen spontaneously.
In the COVID-19 pandemic majority of the small businesses in the event sector (excluding live events) did not qualify for any government provided financial aid. As a result, the lack of cash flow has created a significant hardship which further challenges the industry in the successful reopening process.
THE CHAMBER RECOMMENDS
That the Provincial Government:
- Include professionals from the B.C. Wedding and Event Industry Association to ensure that all changes to weddings and events related policies are consulted by professional members of the industry.
- Work with professional members of the B.C. Wedding and Event Industry Association to ensure that the orders of the Provincial Health Officer are provided in a clear and understandable language pertaining to but not limited to the classification of non-ticketed events.
- Ensure all businesses of the B.C. Wedding and Event Industry Association, regardless of size and seasonality,are able to access future payroll, rent support and recovery programs in order to maintain a sustainable future of the industry in case of potential closures as ordered by the PHO.
Resources
1 ‘BC Meetings & Events Industry Working Group’, BC Meetings and Events 2022. https://www.bcmeetingsandevents.ca
2 James Rodrriguez, British Columbia: The Wedding Industry Has Lost 158 million $ In 2020 Due ToCovid-19, Hello Safe, March 04, 2022. https://hellosafe.ca/en/newsroom/bc-wedding-industry-2020