CIEO Initiates Signature Campaign to Register Concerns of the Exhibition Industry Against Govt SOPs
by EVENTFAQS Bureau Industry Watch | March 15, 2021 | News
Council of Indian Exhibition Organizers (CIEO)
Council of Indian Exhibition Organizers (CIEO), an exclusive platform representing over 100 leading trade fair/ B2B/ conference organizers, has started a signature campaign to address their collective concerns and create a focus group for the industry to get acknowledged as an organized sector to get the Government’s attention.
The campaign was initiated after the Government issued SOPs on January 31, 2021 for conducting exhibitions in India that added to the woes of the exhibition organizers. The industry believes that the implementation of the given SOPs shall lead to reduced saleable area, thus decreased income and increased operation costs and lower confidence for the stakeholders. This will also make organizing exhibitions economically unviable and may also lead to closure of many small exhibition businesses, loss of jobs, etc.
Seema Srivastava, Steering Committee Member of CIEO and the brain behind the campaign, said, “It is imperative that the role played by exhibitions in generating employment, influencing regional economic activity in multiple sectors like hotel industry, airlines, travel and tourism, tax revenue for State/region are highlighted to authorities, enabling them to take supportive decisions benefiting the industry. It can be achieved only through focused and collective effort from organizers without any dilution of the gravity of the matter by mixing it with issues of other multiple service segments required for the exhibition industry.”
The CIEO signature campaign will help to collectively represent the exhibition industry’s views to the Government on the following immediate concerns:
- Revision of SOPs by increasing saleable area of exhibitions and being more supportive for re-opening and revival of exhibition industry.
- Consider reduced rentals at Pragati Maidan, not only for self-organized events by ITPO, but also for organizers hiring the venue.
- Next two financial years be categorized in the category of lean period for the sector and include it in support schemes by the Government to revive exhibitions.
- Direction to consider waiver of cancellation and penal charges for organizers.
The campaign will address collective concerns and create a focus group for the industry to be acknowledged as an organized sector and thus get the Government’s attention.