Malta’s New Entertainers Lobby Calls For An End To Mass Events Attracting Tourists
A new lobby group for entertainers in Malta has proposed a compromise solution for the debate on mass events – cancel mass events intended to attract foreign tourists from high-risk countries and allow other events to continue, but with safety measures.
“The local industry cannot be penalised for mass events publicised in Malta which are specifically targeted towards inbound revellers travelling to Malta from high-risk countries in Europe where such countries like UK are not allowing mass events due to their high number of cases,” the Malta Entertainment Industry and Arts Association said.
“We had and still have an opportunity to focus on the local market.”
It proposed a set of measures to help contain the spread of COVID-19 at events and to safeguard the local industry. In addition to a revised maximum venue capacity, the MEIA recommended that “uncontrolled events” that don’t involve a gate entrance need to “stop with immediate effect” due to the inability to carry out effective contact tracing.
In the case of an event with a gated entrance, temperature checks, sanitiser and mandatory contact details should be enforced to maximise public safety.
“We also suggest having a trusted team or person from the Health Department supervise events according to the size of venue and capacity to ensure all safety measures are taken,” the association said.
In an attempt to safeguard the entertainment and arts industry, which has been crippled by the COVID-19 pandemic, the MEIA strongly urged that these recommendations be enforced by a legal notice until further notice.
In doing so, a “new normal” can be established by which people can enjoy arts and entertainment within a safe environment.
“The intention of MEIA is to safeguard the entertainment and arts industry as well as ensure the safety of the general public until a vaccine is released,” the press release ended.
MEIA’s proposals come after Malta registered a spike in COVID-19 cases bringing the total number of active cases to 27.
Of the 27 currently active cases, a cluster of 15 came from a hotel takeover party two weekends ago.
What do you make of these proposals?
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