In India, the events industry sector accounts for the employment of 10 million people who have been directly affected due to the ongoing crisis. The entire spectrum of M.I.C.E (meetings-incentives-convention-exhibition) is a Rs 500,000-Crore market including organized and unorganized sector put together and COVID – 19 is responsible for impacting jobs.
EEMA organized an open Webinar inviting all the industry partners and stakeholders to come together and released the EEMA’s reopening guidelines aiming to show Indian authorities the live sector can reopen safely after months at a standstill. The webinar was attended by over 1000+ industry stakeholders and the SOP was received and appreciated by each of them during the 2 hours session. In his opening address, President EEMA Mr Roshan Abbas shared that, “With the declaration of unlocking 4.0, the government has allowed many industries to resume their work, but still some major sectors including events have not been permitted to operate. These SOPs have been meticulously planned over the last few weeks taking into account guidelines issued by the Government and multiple global associations, and have been planned across every vertical the event industry represents.”
The SOP document was released by Ms Valsa Singh Nair, Principal Secretary, Tourism & Culture, Government of Maharashtra. The webinar was attended by over 12,000 people from the industry across all social platforms. EEMA simultaneously have initiated a digital campaign on all social media #OpenSafeEvents2SaveEvents encouraging individual companies and associations and trade unions to join the movement to come as a unified voice for reopening of the event industry. With the release of the guidelines, EEMA is working towards reopening the sector further.