The Exhibition and Event Association of Australasia (EEAA) has called upon Federal and State governments to distinguish exhibitions and business events from mass gatherings to expedite a restart date for domestic events in the Australian market.

Claudia Sagripanti, EEAA chief executive said that it was vitally important that governments at both Federal and State level understood that the business events industry can operate under a controlled set of ‘bio-safe’ principles and should not be subject to the ‘mass gathering’ restrictions that apply to other large scale public events such as sporting fixtures, festivals and any other large-scale consumer events.

“The business events industry runs highly-organised events where we can trace every one of our visitors, delegates, speakers and exhibitors as well as monitor, track and put in place a range of measures that can ensure these events comply with government measures on hygiene and physical distancing,” said Sagripanti.

“The business events industry, which includes exhibitions, conferences and business meetings, contributes more than A$35 billion to the national economy, with another A$17.2 billion in value-add and employs over 229,000 people across a range of sectors and trades. 

“The re-opening of this sector will support the government’s objective to implement work-safe guidelines to get Australians back to work.”

The EEAA is recommending that governments provide a clear timetable on when the business events industry can restart. The often-long planning cycle for exhibitions and events requires adequate lead time for implementation.

“The sector needs support now, with a clear timetable on when we can run events – August/September and the last quarter of 2020 is vital to recovery, but the industry needs a confirmed date to commence planning,” said Sagripanti