Dialogue with event industry professionals from Romania - Guido Janssens

– Guido Janssens – managing partner at Emagic Live and vicepresident AROC.

What are the latest estimates on the impact of the crisis generated by the pandemic on the cultural-artistic events industry in Romania?

- Obviously , the whole industry is suffering right now and the uncertainty of how long this crisis is going to last, when and even `if` a vaccine will be available, etc... , has a dramatic impact on our industry as a whole.
And you should not only think about promoters and artists here, but also about the vast number of businesses and people that are involved in making these events happen , like airlines, catering companies, foodtruck owners, rental companies, hotels, transport companies, etc...
Until more hard data become available on the nature of this virus and ways of dealing with it on a worldwide scale, I can not even begin to speculate on the long-term impact that this crisis will have on our business.

What is the current situation regarding the employees in the field and what solutions have been applied?

- As far as Emagic is concerned, keeping our current key-team of people together is priority number one. So we have not fired anyone and also not made any salary cuts.

How much do you think the industry was really supported by the measures taken by the Government so far?

- So far , I did not see specific measures for our industry, but as AROC, we have made some concrete suggestions to the government via the Ministry of Culture and we hope that our proposals will be taken into account.

What measures do you think should be taken by the authorities, so that companies operating in this field and their employees get through this period?

- Live events in Romania are subject to a high number of `extra taxes` and while I consider the 5% stamp tax on tickets in general an abusive tax that should dissapear forever, I would think that waving other taxes on tickets (like monument tax, local tax etc.) for at least a year once events can be held again, would definitely help our industry to recover faster  once this crisis is over.

What do you think will be the medium and long term effects on cultural and artistic events in Romania?

- I have no idea. We will have to prepare mentally for ``all eventualities``.

What would be the message you would send to the public during this period?

- #staysafe #stayhealthy