Ignite Magazine’s Laura Bickle featured our own Anita Carlyle as well as Catherine Chaulet, president and CEO of Global DMC Partners (GDP) as part of Laura’s weekly series where she explores various industry sectors.
Here are highlights from Anita’s and Catherine’s insights in “The new reality for… DMCs”
The pro:
Anita Carlyle, CMP, CMM,
Managing Partner, MCC Destination Management, Toronto
How are you working with planners and partners to reschedule postposed events?
A lot of Zoom calls! Most planners and partners have been very flexible and we have been able to shift most of our events. However, we have started to run into capacity issues for 2021. The clients that first postponed to the fall are now rescheduling for 2021 or further as there is compression from regular annual events that have been booked for next year already.
What are you doing to ensure attendee safety and confidence?
We are closely monitoring what the experts in the health field are saying and following their leads and recommendations. We are members of Destination Toronto and Tourism Industry Association of Ontario and watching what their recommendation will be on how to properly return. We are aligning our programs with our various hotel partners to see if we need to renegotiate guest room blocks (to ensure no shared rooms with people other than household members or accommodate an expected decrease in attendance) or to increase meeting space to allow for proper social distancing at events. Currently this is all still hypothetical as we only have one client that has committed to move ahead with their event before the end of the year.
The pro:
Catherine Chaulet,
President and CEO of Global DMC Partners (GDP)
What preparation is currently underway?
Global DMC Partners’ DMCs all over the world are following health and safety protocols for their staff, vendors and clients as indicated by their state or country guidelines. In addition, in some countries, they are testing visitors upon arrival and using COVID-19 tracing solutions and mobile apps to track the health of visitors. Each of our partner DMCs is working with their local vendors and suppliers to ensure that health protocols and sanitation guidelines are clearly outlined, tracked and being met. GDP is maintaining a comprehensive document that will be available to our clients that includes information such as when state and country borders will open, when the destinations’ hotels, restaurants, and activity options are expected to be open and at what capacity, the criteria for international travelers to enter the state/country, the percentage of flights are currently coming into the destination, and more.
What will be the greatest challenges in reopening?
According to a recent survey that we just released – GDP’s May 2020 Meetings & Events Pulse Survey – fear, lower attendance and travel restrictions are predicted to be the top three challenges for the meeting, events and incentive industry
What guiding principles are you following in regard to decision making?
While face-to-face events are not fully replaceable by virtual events and will make a comeback in 2021, a clear outline of health and sanitation protocols throughout the entire event supplier chain is vital to restoring confidence for the future rebirth of face-to-face meetings and events.
To read more great insights from this article, please visit the Ignite Magazine article here.