Have you ever attended an event that had a mobile or fixed public toilet? It could be a conference, festival, marathon or a wedding? I am sure you may have attended one of these gatherings. These examples are an essential part of the event industry. They are a great way for people to socialise, exercise, network, acquire and transfer knowledge. The leading event-booking platform Eventbrite, reveals the UK events industry is worth 42.3 billion pounds and contributes to over 570,000 full-time jobs. Event attendees are also believed to spend 65,943 pounds annually in registration fees. It is such a great space for budding businesses as the top 10 UK event agencies have a turnover of more than 3.5bn pounds.
For entrepreneurial-minded, there are over 25,000 event-related businesses. The event industry has a significant impact on the UK economy as 35% of the UK visitor spend is attributed to events. It is no surprise that London is the number one EMEA city for a meeting and events activity. With over 10,000 venues, 85 million attendees and 1.3 million business events organised each year, London and the UK economy are benefiting from this industry.
There are different types of events and these have varying contributions to the UK economy. Or, to put it in a better way, the spend per event segment differs with conferences and meetings being the highest contributors with a spend of £19.9 billion. They are closely followed by exhibitions and trade fairs which have a spend of £11.0 billion and sporting events are in third with £2.3 billion. Music events are considered to have a spend value of £1.3 billion with corporate hospitality and incentive travel in a joint fifth position with £1.2 billion. Finally, outdoor events, festivals and cultural events have the same spend of £1.1 billion.
How the cancellation and postponement of these events impact the hiring of portable toilet
The above statistics about the UK events industry is quite impressive. It indicates the instrumental role events play in the fabric of the economy. The year 2020 is different from the devastating impacts of COVID-19. This has led to major cancellation or postponement of events. Historically, the boom of events such as music festivals, outdoor entertainments and sporting events leads to more demand for the hiring of portable toilets. For example, a music festival like Glastonbury is believed to hire over 1300 compost toilets. While the London Marathon hires over 1600 portable toilets. Glastonbury festival this year has been cancelled and the London Marathon has been postponed to October 4, 2020. All park runs in the UK have also been cancelled as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic.
The events industry is one of the most impacted during the period of postponement and cancellations. Unfortunately, this has contributed to the loss of jobs. It is predicted that 60% of event suppliers are facing collapse within 3 months. While this is not designed to be a doomed tale, it highlights the significance of the events industry and how its success positively impacts the event related portable toilets like the 4 person wash station.
