Event industry: An anesthetized financial giant

In a small office on Södermalm in Stockholm, the phones have started ringing again after a compact silence during the pandemic.

Now Victor Schwarcz and his booking company Komet Agency are planning this summer's music festivals.

But it will not be as usual. 

- The event may not be as you imagine a festival.

The name is also "Almost a festival".

It will be a sitting experience, socially distanced, says Victor Schwarz to SVT.

Komet Agency often has concerts in restaurants and is therefore dependent on that industry feeling good.

In the event industry, everything is connected, from the taxi to the concert, to the hotel to sleep on.  

It is an economic giant asleep from the pandemic, shows a new unique survey that the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce has done and that SVT has taken part in.

The event industry directly and indirectly provides a total of 123,000 people with jobs or 2.4 percent of all those who work in the country.

Something pandemic changed. 

- It has contributed to a lower economic activity, especially for this industry and the ecosystem they operate in, says Stefan Westerberg, chief economist at the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce who conducted the survey.

It's also about big money.

The event industry draws in a total of SEK 84 billion, which corresponds to 1.7 percent of the country's economy measured in GDP.

Receives state support

On Thursday, the government decided to support events with at least 250 people forced to cancel due to corona restrictions.

Events that would have taken place June - December 2021 can receive support with up to 70 percent of the costs.

More than money

But it is not just economic values ​​that are at stake.

- We have a long way to go before streaming replaces concerts, before the video conference can fully replace the meeting with real people, says Victor Schwarcz at Komet Agency.