Harrogate MP calls for greater support of events industry
Andrew Jones wants the government to step in to help the struggling sector.
Harrogate and Knaresborough MP Andrew Jones has issued a call for greater government support of the hard-hit events industry as it braces for prolonged economic pain amid a wave of cancellations in the first half of the year.
Mr Jones said the sector was “central to the economy” of the Harrogate district but faced “real hardship” due to the ongoing lockdown and social distancing restrictions.
Events were one the first areas to be shut down in March last year and will likely be one of the last to reopen – and such is the scale of disruptions that it has been estimated almost 400,000 skilled professionals have been forced out of the industry and many may not return.
Speaking in Parliament last week, Mr Jones called for a Commons debate on what more can be done to help the sector rebound as it awaits a date for a return to business as usual along with the rest of the economy.
He later told the Local Democracy Reporting Service said: “The sector matters so much in Harrogate and Knaresborough – it accounts for many jobs across a wide range of business sectors from B&Bs to exhibition stand manufacturers.
“The sector has been very badly hit. Businesses that rely on visitor revenue are all in the same place. We know that over a hundred events have been cancelled, that visitor numbers at the Tourist Information Centre have been down 82 per cent.
“I have met virtually with many players within it over the past year and heard first hand about their challenges and plans.
“We cannot say yet when different parts of our economy will reopen, but we can look ahead with increasing optimism because of the success of the vaccine rollout. That means the pace of planning can be accelerated.”
This time last year Harrogate Convention Centre announced it would host the 2020 Conservative Party National Spring Forum in what was hailed as a major coup for the town.
Two months later, the event was then called off as Covid-19 first swept across the nation and the venue has since not staged a single conference as it has been taken over as an NHS Nightingale hospital.
An NHS contract for use of the convention centre is due to expire on 31 March.
Mr Jones said the venue was vital not only to the local economy, but the national economy too, and that there would be benefits from “being out of the blocks quickly” when the convention centre is handed back over to business and as events can safely return.
“It is important for the sector to rebound strongly,” he said. “I know that the Harrogate Convention Centre is working on their restart plan and speaking with their customers.
“When it is safe for the tourism and events sectors to resume, the message from our area must be that visitors are welcome.
“It is not just our area’s economy that benefits from a thriving Convention Centre. Many of the conferences are business to business events, where much trade is done as buyers and sellers come together. That benefits the national economy.
“I will continue to back the sector, locally and nationally. I have made the case for it to Ministers, and back local marketing plans to highlight why our convention centre is the best choice for so many conference organisers.”