Christopher BarrettThe planned lifting of all Covid-19 related restrictions in Scotland has been warmly welcomed by the live events sector but the National Outdoor Events Association has called for more guidance and clarity.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has said Scotland’s vaccine passport scheme will end on 28 February, and then on 21 March all remaining restrictions, including the wearing of face coverings, will cease.
National Outdoor Events Association (NOEA) president Tom Clements said he was delighted to see the end of restrictions, but the Scottish live events industry needed more clarification and a more definitive stance towards holding major events.
“Our event organisers need more guidance that they can hold these events without the threat of short-term cancellation,” he said. “When they do, we can once again start contributing to both the local and national economies.”
Kathleen Warden, director of conference sales at Scottish Event Campus – which includes The OVO Hydro Arena (cap. 14,000) – was among the many relived to hear the news.
She said, “Since the easing of restrictions in January we’ve hosted a number of live events and it’s been great to welcome attendees back to our venues. The further lifting of restrictions puts us in a strong position to move forward into 2022 with confidence.”
Announcing the planned ending of restrictions, the First Minister said a new Strategic Framework document would be published.
She said, “The Framework therefore makes clear that – thanks to the progress in vaccination and treatments – we intend to rely much less on legal requirements going forwards and much more on people and organisations taking basic, sensible steps to reduce the risk of and harm from Covid-19. This less restrictive approach will support the broad recovery and better future that we all want to see.”