Does anything say ‘global catastrophe’ more than the cancellation of Wimbledon? 2020 is the first year since the end of the Second World War that the UK’s favourite tennis tournament has not taken place. In sports, music, money, dogs, food and every other sector, the global events industry has been battered by coronavirus.
When coronavirus hit, events companies around the world had to turn strategies on their heads overnight. Some have thrived, others have struggled to realign.
Removing “the human nature of an event, removes a huge part of the value,” according to the commercial head of the FT’s events business, FT Live. That is one of the biggest challenges facing companies which make their money from gathering big groups of people together.
So will global events ever go back to normal? This week John Hughman speaks to two events experts to find out.
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Coronavirus battered Relx’s (REL) events business in the first half, with revenues nosediving by 71 per cent compared to the same period last year.
So far 2020 has not been easy on the global events industry – Informa (INF) has been no exception.
