EVENTSCOTLAND

2022 - A year of Recovery, Renewal and Resilience

This time last year, Omicron had emerged, forcing many events who had hoped for a successful festive period, to cancel or postpone. We’ve come a long way throughout 2022, with cultural, sporting and business events back in business, welcoming audiences, participants and delegates from across the world.

However, whilst the sector continues to recover, we can’t ignore the economic headwinds and ongoing issues faced by many across the industry. From increasing costs to commercial challenges, reduced funding across various levels, and staff recruitment and retention, many businesses continue to operate in a significant period of change and uncertainty. Despite this context, the sector continues to work in different ways, developing a range of resilient responses, innovation, and adaptation.

Throughout 2022, we have continued to focus on ensuring Scotland maintains and strengthens its position as a world-leading events destination, as well as reinforcing its status as the perfect stage for events by supporting an exciting portfolio of brand new and much-loved events that raise the country’s profile. Our stellar summer of golf was a perfect example where Scotland took centre stage hosting a number of the world’s biggest & most prestigious tournaments over an action packed five weeks before being named Best Golf Destination in the World in November this year.

Strategic partnerships have been at the heart of our work this year, enabling us to achieve better outcomes and joint success. The work of Scotland’s Event Industry Advisory Group continues to be exemplary in its collaborative approach with a number of significant achievements in 2022 including working with Government to support the return of events; sharing knowledge, challenges and opportunities; and advocating the importance of the sector.

Key themes for the sector this year, which will span into 2023 and beyond have included the need to play a lead role on addressing sustainability, as events themselves can be hugely powerful in engaging the public in climate change through their own programming.

Digitisation in events continues to accelerate – it has changed the way we work, live and do business, and will continue to reshape the events industry.

Inspiring consumer confidence has also been critical - we supported the sector earlier this year with a brand-new consumer-facing campaign entitled ‘The Buzz is back!’ which showcased our wide-ranging event offering, ensuring Scotland was top of mind when thoughts returned to travel.

Looking ahead, we have a number of exciting major events in the pipeline including The Tall Ships Races in Lerwick, Shetland, next July, the 2024 World Athletics Indoor Championships at Emirates Arena in Glasgow, the World Orienteering Championships 2024 in Edinburgh, and the Orkney 2025 Island Games in addition to work on the UEFA EURO 2028 UK Bid.

We also look forward to the biggest cycling event ever, the 2023 UCI Cycling World Championships where we cannot wait to welcome the world’s best riders from across 13 UCI Cycling World Championships to Glasgow and across Scotland next year.

Few industries have the impact events do, they play an important role in our communities, enabling us all to connect, enjoy and share memorable experiences. The positives of events continue to be further recognised, especially the sense of pride they help foster, and the valuable contribution they make towards our health and wellbeing – we must protect and celebrate significantly valuable benefits.

Paul Bush OBE, VisitScotland Director of Events

Reasons to be cheerful (with apologies to Ian Drury and the Blockheads)!

Part 1 - The Licensing Team at Laceys won a NOEA award for Best Support to the Event Industry 2022. I confess that until we actually won something that prestigious, I had no idea just how good it made not just the team feel but all our other colleagues in the Firm –thank you judges and commiserations to the others who were short-listed – none of you really deserved not to win! (Ed – double negatives are not good!)

Part 2 – Covid. It may not have gone away but the seemingly daily dose of new regulations during the pandemic seems (cross fingers) to have come to a grinding halt – long may it stay that way.

Part 3 – Events – they came back! More than a few didn’t make it (not to mention suppliers who are now increasingly squeezed what with inflation, supply chain issues and all that) but not only did NOEA have its first proper convention and award ceremony (did I mention we won one? Ed – Yes you did that already) but across the country we were able to get together en masse to HAVE FUN. The Event Industry is indeed bouncing back better and despite economic gloom, long may that continue – we need “reasons to be cheerful!”

So, what do we have in store?

The headline news is of course the “Protect Duty Legislation” or “Martin’s Law” which is likely to be enacted before I sit down again to write my penultimate Year Book article (did I mention I’m leading up to retirement? Ed – Yes you did – get on with it!).

Seriously, Martyn Hett was one of 22 murdered in the terrorist attack at Manchester Arena on 22nd May 2017. Over 1,000 others suffered physical or psychological injuries. Following a campaign led by his mother Figen Murray, the Government undertook a public consultation and the outcome is that back in May 2022, the then Queen’s speech included a Bill which would require the owners and operators of “Publicly accessible locations” to provide plans for public safety in response to a terror attack.

Responsible operators already have regard to the possibility of a terror attack when preparing their risk assessments and increasingly, many Safety Advisory Groups already have this in mind when considering both Licensing Applications and Event Management Plans. This is not new – indeed, anyone who attended the last NOEA convention in Bath pre-Covid could not have failed to notice the barriers in place around the City Centre Christmas market area, designed even then to foil an attack by vehicles and again in place in 2022.

The difference now is that there will be a legal duty to consider the risk and prepare for not only a response but what might be done to mitigate the risk in the first place. As is always the case, the devil will lie in the detail of the legislation and regulations that will undoubtedly follow - my colleagues and I and NOEA itself will do all we can to keep NOEA members updated as matters progress and help everyone make sure that their venues and events are safe and compliant.

I have no doubt at all that some will decry this legislation as being yet more bureaucracy that only serves to increase paperwork and costs. Others may well take a disproportionate view about what is appropriate or necessary and look to impose draconian conditions or restrictions on events and venues (as happened on a number of occasions during the pandemic).

Personally, I take the view that a human life is priceless and in this day and age of severe threats from terrorism and wars on our doorstep in Europe, the sooner we have “Martin’s Law” enacted, the better. If it saves a single life it would be Part 4 - reasons to be cheerful – as long as everyone takes a common sense and pragmatic view.

Be that as it may, I hope you all have a happy and prosperous 2023 and I look forward to picking up another award in early course!

Philip Day, Laceys Solicitors LLP

– proud winners of a NOEA award in 2022 (Ed – you’ve done this once too often now!)