James Robertson, owner of The Events Shop, said it did not matter whether Stage 7 of the government’s reconnection roadmap was introduced in September because the ‘damage has been well and truly done’.
And Rob Ritchie, owner of Stage 2 Productions, said the number of delays to easing restrictions had created a ‘summer of chaos’ for the industry.
Last week, ministers announced that the lifting of the final set of restrictions – which would allow nightclubs to reopen, stand-up drinking to resume and large-scale events to take place – would be pushed back until the end of August at least.
The Island is due to host several big festivals later this year, with the 10,000-capacity Weekender Festival scheduled for 4 and 5 September, while Electric Park is due to take place two weeks later.
No update has been posted on the Weekender Facebook page or official website since the latest delay was announced.
The Out-There music festival, which was due to take place on 21 and 22 August, has now been rescheduled for 11 and 12 September.
Last weekend, multiple festivals and events took place across England after the UK government eased most of its restrictions, while Guernsey’s Covid strategy has allowed much of island life there to carry on as normal.
Mr Robertson said: ‘This is the fifth delay to easing restrictions and is the final nail in the coffin on what was supposed to be a promising summer of business.’
He added that he had received 12 cancellations for his services in the past month and had been operating at 10% of his usual capacity throughout the summer. He has called on government ministers to extend business support for the industry until next year.
He said: ‘We had all planned for 14 June but to have it delayed five times is so frustrating. I have a couple of bookings in September and hopefully they can go ahead, but the damage has already been well and truly done. I am bit perplexed how we are in this situation when we are supposed to have this amazing vaccine rollout. Even if the September date comes through I cannot just turn on the tap and expect a flurry of bookings.’
Meanwhile, Mr Ritchie said the whole industry was ‘living on scraps’ and that the only ‘saving grace’ was that there could be an extra round of business support funding put in place.
‘It has been a summer of total chaos. People want to do events, weddings and festivals but they keep getting pushed back by government. People accepted the first kick-back but now it has been several delays and people no longer want to postpone, they want to cancel and that impacts our business.’
He added: ‘We were never going to have pre-Covid levels of business this summer but we were hoping to operate around 75% of our normal capacity. I am currently operating below 30% this month.’
In a lengthy post on the Out-There festival’s Facebook page, organisers wrote: ‘After a summer of feeling hopeful and positive, the last few weeks and the subsequent rise in cases have seen us once again fighting to try and keep Out-There alive. Unfortunately, following Friday’s announcement by the government it is now clear that we will not be able to run Out-There on the rescheduled dates as all large-scale events have been ruled out for August, as they try to stem the current Covid tide in the Island.
‘This is an event that we have all been waiting for now for over two years. We have poured our hearts and souls into it every single day of planning, hoping that we would be able to share this outstanding event with you. Despite the number of recent challenges, you have given us your support and seen us through the toughest of times, and what that meant to all of us on the Out-There team cannot be easily summed up into words.’
