A recent study performed by global events industry leader Evendo reveals a significant decline in customer demand for “traditional” Event offerings – typically events, where groups of people are together in confined spaces indoors or outdoors. Although the market is expected to somewhat recover, the current outlook for 2020 is chilling compared to 2019.
“As different countries have varying preferences when it comes to events – the composition of demand in those countries will also result in differing impacts on their national economies. Compared to other countries however, across which the average decline in event demand is around 46%, Britain’s average decline is around 50%, that’s almost 9% higher than the global average,” says Kasper Larsen, CEO of Evendo.
“Unsurprisingly, the biggest decline is seen in demand for group indoor activities. Such activities include popular Escape Rooms and are those most impacted by Covid-19 restrictions and national guidelines. As this type of activity is also in greater demand in Britain than in for example the United States, the British event industry is facing a bigger decline than other countries in absolute numbers.”
From the expected total decline in the British event industry, the decline in group indoor activities makes up for 65% – a decline of £17 billion in 2020 alone, Evendo stated in a recent release.
Over the past few years, the events industry has seen the inevitable introduction of virtual experiences and activities alongside the increasing mass adoption of group video tools such as Zoom. As a consequence of Covid-19, the demand for virtual experiences has seen an increase of 241%. However, even after this increase, virtual experiences only make up for around 3% of the total event economy.
As 62% of the total demand for virtual experiences originates from United States, the positive impact from the increase in demand for these does not contribute as much in Britain. The relative demand for virtual experiences is expected to decrease over time as well, although it is also expected to settle at a level above “pre-Covid-19”.