Venue Maestro, an online venue finder for Australian events, has recently highlighted the open/close nature of the events and hospitality industry in Australia since the breakout of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

The events industry around the world has been amongst the worst affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, and the situation is no different in Australia. Unprecedented lockdowns, strict travel bans and social distancing measures have led to the cancellation of many prominent events. Popular online event venue finder, Venue Maestro has recently shared valuable inputs on how the frequent opening and closure of events during the lockdowns have impacted the industry in Australia.

CEO of Venue Maestro, Andrea Deegan feels that the hospitality businesses across Australia have been on a roller coaster ride over the last 18 months. She informs that the enquiries for venue hire came to a complete halt following the initial restrictions and lockdowns rolled out in March 2020. The industry had to go through a period of uncertainly, and venues across the country were grappling with reorganising and cancellations of pre-planned events.

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As a result of Australia’s successful and highly proactive approach to fighting the pandemic, there were signs of optimism as venues started to reopen in mid 2020. However, challenges were still there in the form of limited capacities, only seated events, and prohibitions imposed on bars, dance floors, etc. According to Deegan, the industry faced the worst in Victoria as the state soon headed back into lockdown. She also mentions that Venue Maestro’s hometown of Perth has consistently been the most “open” city for events over the period.

“2021 has been a tale of many cities. We see leads coming through our website depending on which city is open. As soon as the media reports an emergence of COVID in a state, it’s like the tap is turned off and all event enquiries stop for that location,” Deegan stated. “On the flipside, individuals and businesses are keen to book events as soon as restrictions lift, which is positive.”

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“I think at one stage, Perth was the only city in the world where you could go dancing. As an advertising platform for event venues, we launched in 2018, our relatively new business has been able to keep the lights on thanks to Perth venues being able to bounce back,” she added.

Though the event industry in WA was in a better shape compared to other Australian states, they still had to bear the brunt of snap lockdowns, mask-wearing, and limited capacities. As a result of limited interstate travel, there was a huge decline in the number of corporate events and conferences. Andrea Deegan believes that it may take years for the Australian hospitality sector to recover from this phase.

Venue Maestro started its journey in 2018, introducing a whole new approach to finding the perfect event venue in Australia. Its sophisticated search functionality makes it a breeze to find meeting rooms, conference venues, private function rooms and wedding venues by location and other filters. The company currently operates in Perth, Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.

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