What England’s roadmap out of lockdown means for live events

Yesterday (22nd February) saw the UK Prime Minister reveal England’s much-anticipated roadmap out of lockdown, with hope now high that the UK’s live events industry will be booming again this summer.

Outlining his four step plan which could see all restrictions lifted by 21st June, the PM’s roadmap had a number of encouraging dates and details for the live events industry. 

•  12th April - Outdoor hospitality and attractions, including events such as drive-in cinemas and theme parks, alongside the start of larger event pilots.
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•  17th May - Capacities of up to 1,000 (or 50%) for indoor events, 10,000 (or 25%) for outdoor seated events and 4,000 (or 50%) for other outdoor events.
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•  21st June - All limits on social distancing and events removed, including the reopening of all remaining indoor venues such as nightclubs alongside full scale festivals and more.

This is incredibly welcome news for the live events industry and allows promoters and venues to move forward with much more certainty, paving the way for a hugely exciting return to live events over the coming months.

Demand is on the rise

Over the past six months we’ve seen strong consumer demand for events that have been brave enough to go on sale, and we only see this growing following the latest announcement. We even saw UK traffic increase to our Festicket and Ticket Arena websites overnight by +320% as well as a 12 fold increase in sales, demonstrating the soaring pent-up demand that exists among event-goers and music fans starved of live events.

That is why we believe now is the ideal time to go on sale to capitalise on this demand, as well as beating competition which are sure to enter the field soon.
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Throughout the pandemic we’ve been working hard to anticipate the return of live events and have been developing a number of solutions as part of our Back to live offering to prepare for this very moment. Get up to speed on all this below and get in touch today to speak to us about your events. 


COVID-ready Ticketing

Our ticketing offering now allows for promoters to sell for socially distanced events that are both seated and non-seated, by creating custom seating plans or splitting tickets by venue area, as well as keeping audiences safe with Track and Trace functionality. 

Event Genius will help you manage capacity, ingress and audience flow with Timed Entry Ticketing, a feature used to great affect by Lightopia Festival (Manchester, England) whilst under Tier 3 COVID-19 restrictions.

We’ve also been working hard to reassure fans and retain customer confidence through our updated Booking Protect addition, and offering customers flexible payment options via payment plan.

New free website offer! Need a new website to relaunch your event and ticketing campaign? No problem! Let us know and we can provide a free website build alongside our ticketing partnerships*.

Learn more about egTicketing’s COVID-secure functionality

‍COVID-ready Access Control

Reducing unnecessary contact and managing capacity and audience flow will all be key in the return of live events.

Promoters can take advantage of egAccess to ensure a streamlined and truly contactless entry system for event-goers, as well as reducing on-the-door ticketing by allowing customers to book tickets digitally and remain on sale right up to your event start time (and beyond).

Learn more about egAccess’ COVID-secure functionality 

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COVID-ready RFID or Contactless Cashless

‍We’ve been calling 2021 the year that cashless became king. Making your event COVID-secure will be paramount to success this summer. Going cashless allows you to: 

•  Reduce contact and queuing times
•  Cut transmissions 
•  Reassure fans and staff 
•  Increase revenues 

Our data across all cashless clients tells us that events that switch to cashless with Event Genius Pay will enjoy up to a 26% uplift in revenues in year one and clients who make the switch to a multi-year agreement have seen an overall increase of up to 39% in customer spend by year two.

Learn more about egPay’s COVID-secure functionality  ‍

‍COVID-ready Seating 

Based on feedback from our venue partners, in the coming week's we'll be revealing how we've simplified seating plan management, giving you the autonomy to manage the requirements of social distancing in your venues. 

Whether you run traditional theatre, arena or gig venue shows or are looking to branch out into drive-in events and other socially distanced open air options, our Reserved Seating functionality is completely flexible and can generate seating plans for events of all types.

Get in touch, we'd love to hear from you!

If you’re an event organiser and want to learn more about the UK’s roadmap for live events, as well as how Event Genius can help you prepare for your festival, event or venue relaunch, get in touch today. Our friendly sales team are here to help and look forward to speaking with you soon.  

Contact us

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*Offer based on commercial terms