Features

No arena events in 2020, predicts NEC chief

Paul Thandi, chief executive of NEC Group, has said it will take “two or three years” for the business to recover and has predicted that no indoor arena events will take place in 2020.

Most events at the Group’s arena venues – Utilita Arena Birmingham and Resorts World Arena – which have been shuttered since mid-March due to COVID-19, have been rescheduled for 2021

Thandi said that the group does not anticipate any events taking place because people continue to fear going out due to the pandemic.

The NEC (National Exhibition Centre), which is the UK’s largest exhibition venue, has 18 interconnecting halls and 32 conference suites that welcome around 2.3 million visitors to more than 149 exhibitions every year.

The group runs Resorts World Birmingham (pictured), which is the UK’s first integrated destination leisure and entertainment complex, and the 15,800-capacity Utilita Arena Birmingham, which accommodates music, sport, comedy, family entertainment and live theatre.

The NEC will be back open for events in October.

Head to our sister site TheTicketingBusiness.com for the full story.

Image: NEC Group