The so-called merry month of May is always a challenge for event professionals.

For example for Friederike Mauritz.

"In the last few weeks we have had more inquiries than ever before," says the owner of the Celebrations agency, which organizes conferences, congresses, wedding celebrations and wedding fairs.

Some are now catching up on the canceled or postponed celebrations, sometimes with baptism.

Patricia Andreae

Editor in the Rhein-Main-Zeitung.

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But what could make her happy after two years of Corona and a number of unusual events also gives her a headache.

Because while she was able to get through the pandemic period quite well with the organization of online events and small company events for long-standing customers, as she says, many of her proven cooperation partners had great difficulties.

"Some are no longer there." Recently, she had to make a lot of phone calls to find a bus company that could transport 150 guests back and forth between two venues at a conference.

After all, she hired a company from Kaiserslautern.

"Business has become very difficult, because hotels and caterers often no longer have the capacity they used to,

Recovery may take time

This is confirmed by the employment agencies, which now regularly identify a high shortage of skilled workers in the hospitality industry.

According to a study by the temporary employment agency Zenjob, for example, before the pandemic, around 33 percent of students and other part-time workers worked in the catering and hotel industry; in the Corona year 2020 it was only eight percent.

After the lockdowns, many did not return.

However, Zenjob assumes that the trend could reverse again with the end of the pandemic in the hospitality industry as well as in the event and entertainment industry, also because of the wages that have meanwhile increased.

However, Friederike Mauritz fears that a real recovery in the event industry will still take some time.

On the one hand, there are uncertainties, which make long-term planning very difficult.

On the other hand, many companies in the industry are struggling with the fact that storage and maintenance costs have continued without generating any income.

It was great that there was state support, but some people fell through the cracks.

And for them, the Corona crisis is not over.

Added to this are the supply chain problems and price increases for food and fuel.

However, budgets for events are the first to be cut when companies have to save.

In addition, many who would have had to shut down their operations from 100 to zero could not start up again so quickly because they lacked the infrastructure.

Some from the event industry would have quietly given up their business.

"There are only half as many service providers left," says the co-founder of an industry association.

And she reckons it could be even less.

140 trade fairs in the second half of 2022

The Imex trade fair for business events, which will take place next week from 31 May to 2 June at the Frankfurt exhibition center, promises a boost for the industry.

According to the organizer, more than 160 exhibitors are expecting several thousand visitors.

Conference hotels, event centers, event agencies as well as technology service providers present themselves.

In addition, an extensive event program with lectures and workshops is planned, which will deal with topics such as sustainability, diversity and inclusion in event planning, approaches for flexible pricing in business events and innovative forms of event design.

At Messe Frankfurt, the event trade fair is seen as the next step towards normalizing the event business, which began after the Corona requirements for events were lifted at the beginning of April.

35 guest events with a total of more than 110,000 participants were booked there for the month of May alone.

In 2021, almost 70 percent of the guest events were postponed or cancelled, and 140 trade fairs, congresses, events and concerts have already been scheduled for the second half of 2022.

"This corresponds to the proportion of a half-year as before the last two challenging years," says the trade fair.

"We are very pleased that the events industry can now organize encounters without restrictions again," says Michael Biwer, Head of Guest Events at Messe Frankfurt.

As the host for all event formats - including congresses, conferences, concerts, sporting events and corporate events - the trade fair company is dependent on the liveliness of the industry.

"With the IMEX, the restart will have a platform," says Biwer.