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By Charumini de Silva
The manifold crises have forced the multi-billion-rupee event management industry into a destitute state, making it one of the ‘most vulnerable sectors’ to any catastrophe.
The Event Man-agement Association of Sri Lanka (EMA-SL) said follow ing the multiple crises the industry endured post-Easter Sunday attacks in 2019, most of the trained staff have now moved to different sectors for livelihood.
The event management industry is worth over Rs. 36 billion and is part of the Rs. 150 billion worth marketing communication sector.
“Our industry started getting affected since April 2019 Easter Sunday attacks, which led to cancellation of all the events in hotels where a lot of restrictions came into play from venues due to security concerns. The situation got worse following the COIVID pandemic as our sector was shut for 18 months straight.
“Thereafter came the multitude of crises ranging from foreign exchange, power and energy which also ushered a political revolution. As a result of these multitude factors and impacts, today our industry has come to a standstill and a destitute state,” EMASL President Nishan Wasalathanthri told the Daily FT.
Despite attracting in foreign exchange to the economy, particularly through meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions (MICE) events, the industry has provided employment for over 130,000 direct jobs and 600,000 livelihoods.
“Given the vulnerability of the industry, those who were part of the sector will never even consider returning. Four years ago, we had 65 member companies and now it has come down to just 50 members. The gravity of the economic impact is huge,” Wasalathanthri added.
He also claimed that the debt moratoriums have deepened financial misery for its members.
“Almost all members obtained the facility thinking that the industry will get back to normalcy post-COVID, but now that the grace period is also over; the companies are forced to pay the loans. They are in deeper financial misery as they now have to service more and more debts and interest rates without a steady income. Given the current economic crisis, none of the companies are in a position to pay back,” he explained.
“We are a local industry with local talent and investments. Nobody thinks about the entire procedure that goes behind the scenes to put up massive events. It just does not end at the price of a ticket but includes a lot of technical and creative aspects to make a memorable event. All our members are registered and contribute to the Government coffers,” he said.
As per the EMASL President, many members have also made massive investments, ranging from Rs. 10 million to Rs. 800 million per business, on infrastructure, equipment and skills development.
“With no work for four years, these millions-worth equipment and devices malfunctioned or were damaged completely,” he said, adding that it was difficult to quantify the economic impact following the multitude of crises.
He said events are considered essential to businesses as a vital tool of ‘live communication’, which enables a cross-section of industries to present new products to the market and generate sales. In that context, a high frequency of corporate events often correlates with a healthy economy.
EMASL President also pointed out that the remaining member companies are operating under great difficulties, with the Government’s failure to provide solutions for the power and energy crisis.
“Our members are operating businesses with greatest difficulties as most of them have financial commitments. In terms of providing transport, collecting fuel for generators, finding generators, limitations on fuel distribution especially for cans have become an everyday issue for the entire industry,” he added.
Wasalathanthri also claimed that the Rs. 500 million grant declared in the 2022 Budget to compensate the losses incurred during the COVID-pandemic, remained only as a mere announcement.
“Although the allocation of Rs. 500 million was not sufficient, we thought the Government has at least recognised our industry after painstakingly building it over the past 30 years. To our surprise, the Budget proposal remained as a mere announcement to-date,” he stressed.
He also shared recommendations to revive the economy and the industry without further delay.
“The only way for industry recovery is through political stability and investor confidence. The forced direct investment must come to Sri Lanka and not by way of loans. The country must invest in developing export industries and convert all loss-making State-owned-enterprises (SOEs) to profit making modules by moving ahead with Public-Private-Partnerships (PPPs),” he suggested.
Wasalathanthri cautioned that if the Government remains without providing long lasting solutions by next month, most SMEs in many industries will collapse, which will then lead to a domino effect where the banks and financial stability will start to crumble with unsupportable amount of non-performing loans (NPLs) and consequences of credit card defaults – directing to a complete economic bankruptcy.
