Event industry struggling to stay afloat amidst coronavirus pandemic

Events across the nation are being canceled, all due to COVID-19. So what does that mean for the event planning industry? After all, they’ve been at a standstill for months.

”If there’s no business on the horizon, how can you keep people?” asked GlobalWorks Events manager Katie Adams. She’s lucky to still have her job planning events, even though the phone at her office sits silent.

”We were having a banner year,” she said. “It was just a record first quarter for us.”

Just two weeks after record attendance at their biggest fundraiser in Naples this past February, group and large gatherings came to a halt.

“We really thought it was just a temporary lapse in business,” Adams said. Now, it’s been months since companies grounded corporate travel, costing the event industry most of their profit and hurting other businesses that rely on those travelers.

“Everyone is just waiting to see when is this all going to be over, when is it safe to travel again and when do they feel comfortable letting their employees travel,” explained Jenny Gezlla. She runs Naples Princess Cruises and had to permanently let workers go.

“With the vaccine on the horizon and the election on the forefront,” Adams said, the hope is events will start to book again.

In the meantime, “we’ve got to get some bailout or stimulus to keep going,” she said.