Florence Chan urges HK govt to reopen concert venues
10 Jul – Ever since the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic, the Hong Kong government - just like many countries around the globe - had imposed a restriction order for all entertainment locations including concert venues.
It is estimated that there were more than 300 concerts or world tours that was forced to cancel or postpone their event, which caused the industry to lose a huge revenue and that directly affected the livelihoods of many concert-related staff due to work stoppage.
As the Hong Kong government gradually relaxes the gathering restrictions, it was reported that the number of occupants in the performance venue will be opened from half to 80 percent.
According to Mingpao, following the announcement talent manager and Chairman of the Performance Industry Association Florence Chan recently held a press conference with several industry representatives to call upon the government to fully open the concert venues as soon as possible, so that the nearly 10,000 employees in the industry can resume work to maintain their livelihood.
In her statement to the media, Florence described the industry of being in the "ice age", and that despite the relaxation measures, the number of seats per session is still less than 20 percent, which poses a threat to the industry and makes it difficult to ensure the livelihood of these employees.
"Some concerts requires close to 90 percent occupancy to break even," she added, saying that the 80 percent occupancy may not be enough.
Florence also proposed three suggestions - opening up the performance venue as soon as possible, implementing a rent relief measures, and providing a support fund to the performance industry.
It is noted that performers Sam Hui and Aaron Kwok had to hold charity performances online earlier this year in order to raise funds to help those whose work in the performance industry - with Sam funding the sacked employees of the concert department of Tom Lee Engineering Ltd, while Aaron held his to help dancers and other concert workers during the tough times.
(Photo Source: Mingpao)
