Meeting and Event Planners Prepare to Absorb Financial Shock from Coronavirus Fallout
03/16/2020
As news headlines reflect event cancelation after facility closure, meeting and event planners are worried what kind of toll the coronavirus may have on their businesses and on their bottom lines. Planners are fielding phone calls and emails from clients calling off contracts, many of which aren’t ready to commit to new contract terms or dates.
According to an article in USA TODAY, “From local venues to major music festivals such as Coachella and South by Southwest (SXSW), organizers are canceling or postponing events throughout the country because of the outbreak of COVID-19.”
The fallout is certainly being felt throughout the event planning industry, which creates $325 billion of direct spending in the U.S. The industry also sustains over 5.9 million jobs, according to a 2018 Oxford Economics and Events Industry Council study.
Peripheral industries are feeling the pinch, too. Freelancers and contractors, such as DJs and photographers, are getting hit just as hard as the overall event planning industry. And nobody is quite certain how long the freeze may last and what the impact may be.
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