The 2019 Banana Boat Ocean Swim Series. Photo / Supplied
The 2019 Banana Boat Ocean Swim Series. Photo / Supplied
Sports event directors have pleaded the Government for clearer guidelines after being left in the dark about the dos and dont's of staging competitions amid Covid-19.
More than 20,000 events have been cancelled or postponed due to the pandemic, with 92 per cent of event organisations reporting a lack of certainty according to the New Zealand Events Association.
More than 80 per cent reported the requirements under higher alert levels were not workable for their events.
But Event Director for the Banana Boat Ocean Swim Series, Scott Rice, believes it isn't that events can't be held under higher levels, rather that a lack of information has been made available to educate organisers.
He said there are strict rules for industries like retail and hospitality, but that the events sector has been left to sort itself out.
"If the alert level changes at any point over the summer, we want to know what we need to do to abide by the rules and still have the very best chance of running the event," Rice told the Herald.
"That information wasn't that easy to find and like some of the other industries like hospitality it was quite prescriptive of what exactly they needed to do at different alert levels so all the event industries need is some clarity."
Rice was forced to "do his own digging" in preparation for December's Ocean Swim Series, which included seeking advice from an epidemiologist who was able to confirm the unlikely transmission of Covid-19 through saltwater.
He's since been invited to join a number of panels to help formulate clearer guidelines for similar events but said someone in Government needed to take the lead.
"It's taken just a little bit too long, the events industry needs to know now or needed to know a few months ago actually," he said. "I've found out what I need to know and I've shared that to quite a few industry colleagues to keep them updated... the more clarity we can get, the more we can plan and the more we can run great events that are safe for people to attend."
Photo / Supplied
Rice said he was confident in their plans of hosting the Swim Series under alert levels 2 and 2.5, should Covid-19 re-emerge in the community.
Despite a 64 percent drop in attendees to events nationwide, Rice was confident of a big turnout.
"We opened entries about a month ago but then Auckland hit level 3 and it was interesting times, but we're starting to see the ticket sales pick up now. Kiwis are ready to get out the door and put Covid behind them, hopefully, for the time being and get out there and get active," he said.
"People have been starved of a lot of things they love and for swimmers, as long as we're not back in a Level 3 or 4, we're going ahead. I think we're going to have a really good season."
