30
Big Interview
Time to shine
Martin Fullard talks to Heledd Williams, head of business events at VisitWales,
about how the country’s events sector has been impacted by Covid-19, and its value
in the eyes of the Welsh Government
ales contributes
2% to the UK’s
events value, but
no sooner had
the new ICC Wales opening in
September 2019, that everything
had to close down. Despite
redundancies across the sector,
Wales is primed to come back
stronger. Heledd Williams, the head
of business events at VisitWales, will
be at the forefront of this drive.
What has VisitWales been doing
during the Covid-19 lockdown?
We have seen a lot of our colleagues,
partners and venues stepping up
their efforts to support the wider
community throughout the Covid-19
pandemic.
At Meet in Wales we have been
busy liaising with our industry
partners, hosting bi-weekly calls and
providing updates on the latest
Government guidance. We have
been representing the destination
by joining virtual panels at
PlanetIMEX and MeetGB and
sharing relevant insights and
updates with our partners.
Two of our venues have been
transformed into field hospitals: the
Principality Stadium in Cardiff, now
Ysbyty Calon y Ddraig (Dragon’s
Heart Hospital), has converted into
a 2,000 bed hospital, making it the
second biggest field hospital in the
UK behind NHS Nightingale London.
Venue Cymru in Llandudno, now
Ysbyty Enfys (Rainbow Hospital),
has also been turned into a
temporary hospital providing a
further 350 beds.
A number of businesses have
been busy re-purposing their
production lines and supporting the
key workers. Hensol Castle has been
busy re-purposing its gin distilling
business to produce and supply
hand sanitiser to the medical
industry. The Coldra Court Hotel, part
of the Celtic Collection, has been
hosting a number of key workers
since the beginning of the pandemic.
Myself and my colleagues have
been enlisted to help Welsh
Government’s efforts on the front
line. I have personally been assisting
the hospitality sector as it gears up
for its reopening. This has included
reviewing policy documents, hosting
conference calls and liaising with
businesses as they plan their
recovery.
I couldn’t be prouder of the
national effort and Wales’ response
to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Have there been any enquiries;
what does the current landscape
look like?
As I am sure many of my industry
colleagues can relate to, we have
seen no new bookings for Q2 2020
or Q3 2020 but all of the planned
meetings for this period, which were
originally postponed, have been
re-scheduled for future dates. Q4
2020 and onwards looks more
positive, we are seeing a number of
enquiries for small and medium sized
corporate and incentive enquiries
from October 2020 onwards.
Looking ahead to 2021, we have
already seen some strong enquiries
for meetings and events with
domestic bookings leading the way.
We have also seen a good level of
interest for international meetings
and events later in 2021 and team
building and incentive programmes
on track to begin taking place in April
2021. Now is the time for event
planners to re-discover destinations
such as Wales.
How do you feel the Welsh
Government has handled the
events industry: does it appreciate
its value or is there still more work
that needs to be done?
The Welsh Government absolutely
does appreciate the importance of
the events industry, its value, its
impact and its role in employment,
jobs and the supply chain. It has
illustrated this commitment with its
joint venture with ICC Wales as well
as investing into business events
activity over the last couple of years.
It has always had a team attracting
events from a sport, arts and culture
element into Wales via the Major
Events Unit. The formation of
EventWales, which will bring sport,
culture, arts, business events and
the supply chain together is proof
that the events industry is regarded
as an important, key part of the
sector in Wales. The aim is to draw
notable events into Wales as well as
nurturing home-grown events in
Wales by the Welsh sector for global
consumption.
The formation of an Events Wales
Industry Advisory Group is also
www.conference-news.co.uk