Kerala’s Tourism Minister, Kadakampally Surendran, has promised various measures to revive the event management sector, which fell into deep crisis in the wake of the Covid-19 outbreak.

The steps were announced after discussions with the Event Management Association Kerala (EMA, Kerala).

The event management sector in the State, with an annual turnover of over ₹3,000 crore, employs over one lakh workers, including professionals. The industry suffered more than 40,000 event cancellations once the pandemic struck, with a total loss of about ₹500 crore so far, Raju Kannampuzha, General Secretary, EMA, Kerala, said.

Stimulus package

The stimulus package agreed for the sector includes: 1) Government initiative to establish a social welfare fund for workers in event management 2) to include event companies in the campaigns and road shows run by the Tourism Department 3) Promote MICE tourism and destination wedding in Tourism Department publications, advertisements, website, and social media. 4) to formulate safety and hygiene protocol for social functions and ceremonies to be held after the lockdown, and, 5) to organise art and cultural programmes in a safe environment in each district engaging artists from various fields.

Event management groups can evaluate, carry out site supervision and deploy trained professionals to implement safety and hygiene protocols for public events and festivities. Their professional services will become more necessary in the coming days, said Martin Emmanuel, president EMA, Kerala.

EMA, Kerala, has more than 100 event management companies as its members.

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