The New Zealand government has extended the Events Transition Support Payment scheme (ETSP) until Jan. 31, 2023, and expanded it to include business events.
The scheme, which was first announced in November, covers up to 90% of costs incurred by organisers for COVID-19-related cancellation of events with more than 5,000 attendees. New Zealand’s recent shift to the COVID-19 red setting has caused numerous events to be cancelled.
“The current Omicron variant of COVID-19 and the Red setting in the Protection Framework are having a severe impact on the events sector,” said Economic and Regional Development Minister Stuart Nash. “We have adapted the scheme to take account of this to further support the industry for the rest of the year. Extending the ETSP to Jan. 31, 2023 and opening it up to eligible business events of at least 200 attendees will give much needed certainty to the industry.”
Nash said that business events are also a key source of revenue for convention centres and other venues, most of which do not usually host large-scale events. The government will also introduce a new eligibility criterion, allowing events to cancel or postpone if the lead artist or subject has to self-isolate due to exposure to COVID-19.
“These changes will provide confidence to hundreds of events throughout 2022 and into next summer so organisers can continue to organise events despite the ongoing uncertainty that COVID-19 brings to our communities,” Nash said.
