Skip to content
Sign InCreate Account
J
Search
Articles

Is ‘Virtual’ the New ‘Reality’ For the Events Industry??

Amy O’Connor1, Wendy Sealy1

1University of Chichester, UK

Published: December 13, 2021DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.20464904CC BY 4.0
Open AccessPeer Reviewed
PDF

Abstract

The corona virus (covid-19) has had an unprecedented impact on the tourism, events, and hospitality industries. To date the direct and indirect cumulative economic impacts are still unknown and will be difficult to quantify. As of March 2020, the events industry had already lost £10 bn due to the restrictions imposed by the pandemic (UFI, 2020). Event industry revenues for 2020 represented only 28% of the revenues recorded in the previous year. 52% of companies faced reduced profits and 30% of businesses recorded a loss of more than 50% (UFI, 2021). Furthermore, 17% of event and exhibition businesses permanently ceased trading during 2020 and 126,000 jobs were lost during the same period (Conference-News, 2020). Covid-19 has irrupted the events industry resulting in businesses adapting and innovating to survive.

Keywords: Corona Virus, Impacts, Tourism, Events, Hospitality, Business Innovation

Article Details

Journal
Journal On Tourism & Sustainability (JOTS)
Issue
Volume 5, Issue 1, 2021
Section
Articles
Pages
DOI
10.5281/zenodo.20464904
Zenodo Record
https://zenodo.org/records/20464904
Published
December 13, 2021
Canonical URL
https://otsjournal.org/article/is-virtual-the-new-reality-for-the-events-industry

References

  1. Sealy, W. (2020). A commentary on risk and resilience in the hospitality, tourism, aviation, and events industry: Responses to covid–19 and lessons learned. Journal on Tourism & Sustainability, 4 (1), pp. 82-93.
  2. Sealy, W & O’Connor, A. (2021). Skills development for the post pandemic events Industry: The learning and teaching of virtual events in higher education. Working Paper.
  3. Seraphin, H. (2020). COVID-19: an opportunity to review existing grounded theories in event studies, Journal of Convention & Event Tourism, DOI: 10.1080/15470148.2020.1776657
  4. Slotnick, D. (2020). Some of the world's airlines could go bankrupt because of the COVID-19 crisis, according to an aviation consultancy. See the carriers that have already collapsed because 51 of the pandemic. Insider. Available at: <https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus- airlines-that-failed-bankrupt-covid19-pandemic-2020-3?r=US&IR=T> [Accessed 27 April 2021].
  5. Solaris, J. (2020). Virtual Events Need a Better Business Model. [ebook] Skift. Available at: <https://vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/bitstream/handle/10919/100610/Virtual%20Events%2 0Need%20a%20Better%20Business%20Model.pdf?sequence=1> [Accessed 25 April 2021].
  6. Statista (2021). Coronavirus: impact on the aviation industry worldwide - statistics & facts. Available at: <https://www.statista.com/topics/6178/coronavirus-impact-on-the- aviation-industry-worldwide/> [Accessed 27 April 2021].
  7. Technavio (2021). Virtual Events Market by Application, End-user, and Geography - Forecast and
  8. Analysis 2021-2025. Available at: <https://www.technavio.com/report/virtual-events- market-industry-analysis> [Accessed 24 April 2021].
  9. The Meetings Industry Association (2021). UK Events Survey. Harborough: MIA. Available at: <https://www.mia-uk.org/write/MediaUploads/Jan21_- _UK_Events_Sector_Research_Report.pdf> [Accessed 3 May 2021].
  10. UFI (2020). UFI Media Release Economic Impact of COVID-19. [ebook] UFI. Available at: <https://www.ufi.org/wp- content/uploads/2020/03/UFI_media_release_economic_impact_of_covid19_100320.pdf > [Accessed 21 April 2021].
  11. UFI (2021). The Global Exhibition Barometer. 26th UFI Global Exhibition Barometer / January
  12. 2021. UFI. Available at: <https://www.ufi.org/archive-research/the-global-exhibition- barometer-january-2021/> [Accessed 21 April 2021].
  13. Welch, C., Ray, S., Melendez, J., Fare, T. & Leach, M. 2010. Virtual conferences becoming a reality. Nature Chemistry, 2(3), 148-152. Available at: <https://www.researchgate.net/publication/49651549_Virtual_conferences_becoming_a _reality> [Accessed 22 April 2021]. Contributors : Amy O’Connor & Dr Wendy Sealy, University of Chichester, UK Corresponding Author: Dr Wendy Sealy, University of Chichester, UK. Email: W.Sealy@chi.ac.uk 52

Articles are published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0), which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution, and reproduction in any medium or format, provided appropriate credit is given to the original author(s) and source, a link to the licence is provided, and changes are indicated.

Fees: JOTS does not charge submission charges, article processing charges, author fees, or publication fees.
Copyright: © 2021 OTS Academy