Covid-19 NSW: Omicron strain sparks events industry’s call for government insurance scheme

The latest Covid-19 strain has spurred calls from the events and tourism sector for an insurance scheme to offer them protection from the possibility of further coronavirus cancellations.

The Omicron variant has reignited calls for a government-backed insurance scheme for the state’s $30.2bn events and tourism sector to insulate them from Covid cancellations.

As thousands of bookings roll in to provide a ray of hope to the battered industry, Geoff Donaghy, chief executive of the International Convention Centre (ICC) at Darling Harbour, said the introduction of a government-backed insurance safeguard was “critical” for businesses, agents and artists battle-scarred from two years of cancellations.

“It takes the risk out,” Mr Donaghy said.

ICC CEO Geoff Donaghy.

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Urban think-tank Committee for Sydney, which has previously called for a government-backed insurance scheme, said the new Omicron strain had highlighted that the pandemic was far from finished.

“We first made the case for government to get behind the events sector as Sydney emerged from the Delta lockdown, the arrival of Omicron is a powerful reminder the pandemic’s not yet over, and the need for this support is more urgent than ever,” Matt Levinson, the committee’s director of corporate affairs, said.

The ICC hosted 33 major international events in 2019, but has held none since the start of the pandemic.

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There are 250 national and local events booked in for the function centre for the first half of 2022, but Mr Donaghy said the sector wouldn’t “fully recover until international events are back on the agenda”.

The NSW government has tipped $50m into a grants-styled Event Saver Fund, which will go some way to covering costs for artists and event planners in the event of Covid-forced cancellations.

However, Mr Donaghy said there needed to be an insurance safeguard more closely resembling Victoria’s $230m plan, as Omicron renews fears over future variants and their impacts on events.

The ICC in Darling Harbour Sydney. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gaye Gerard

This would include a federal or state-backed insurance scheme which would enable businesses to apply for cover, provided by the government, in the event of a Covid resurgence or new variants of concern.

“We want it to either be done as a grant or an underwritten insurance scheme, which is how it’s working in Victoria and the UK,” he said.

He said it was important a scheme was extended over the “longer term” to give promoters the confidence to book events in the coming 18 months, citing the last minute cancellation of the Bluesfest.

A Covid outbreak in March forced the major festival to be canned the day before it was meant to start, costing organisers more than $200 million.

Emma Triggs, chief executive of entertainment and events company M Live, has felt the brunt of Covid-19’s crippling impact on the sector over the past two years, with the outbreak forcing her to cancel all of her projects in March last year.

Since then, she has staged the highly successful digital art show Van Gogh Alive at Moore Park, with another exhibition, the space-themed installation Neighbourhood Earth, now on show at the ICC.

While she praised government support so far for the sector, she said an insurance scheme would make smaller, self-backed organisations more confident of getting back to work.

Emma Triggs, CEO of The M Agency at the new space exhibition Neighbourhood Earth which is on at the ICC. Picture: Toby Zerna

“It’s a huge risk doing something like that with your own backing … there is no insurance, I’ve had no funding,” she said. “We’re in an industry that’s already on its knees and you don’t have a regular income, but you do have regular expenses. With the events, as soon as there’s a scare, tickets are refundable, so we give that assurance to people buying the tickets, but on our end, there’s nothing.”

Committee for Sydney’s Mr Levinson confirmed the variant had reignited the conversation around insurance for the wider events industry.

“Event organisers have directly borne the brunt of Covid-19 controls, and face weakened consumer confidence and the risk of cancellation due to Covid-19 outbreaks, especially with the arrival of the Omicron variant,” he said.

“We’re encouraging the NSW government to add government-backed insurance for the events sector to their package of strong measures intended to drive economic recovery across our CBDs.”

NSW Minister for Tourism Stuart Ayres. Picture: Matt King/Getty

Minister for Jobs, Investment and Tourism Stuart Ayres, said the NSW government was “strongly committed” to supporting tourism and events, citing the Event Saver Fund, which could provide immediate financial ­support to organisers if events were cancelled or disrupted by public health orders. The scheme’s guidelines are still being finalised.

“More than $530m will be invested in reviving events across the state and getting tourism back on track,” he said.

“The Covid-19 Economic Recovery Plan includes a range of initiatives to turbocharge the industry and stabilise established businesses, companies and festivals so they can program with confidence into the future.”

Originally published as Covid-19 NSW: Omicron strain sparks events industry’s call for government insurance scheme