Peter Heath, founder, Venue Performance, helps the sector move past the Budget and towards a successful 2025.
“I think the most common response to the Budget has been “it’s not great, but it’s not as bad as I thought it was going to be, so let’s get on with it’. We all know that the country needs help to get better, so let’s just get that done.
“The increase in national minimum wage means that, particularly in hospitality, we are likely to see a slowdown in hiring and an increase in costs. This could well be the catalyst the sector needs to move towards more automation, which is something the consumer craves and is likely to benefit from.
“The technology is there for guest experience and the technology is there for the more mundane, routine tasks that could be done by robots. We might see this Budget pushing people towards using more technology, if the suppliers can make a winning case for the investment.
“In events, the post-Budget feeling will translate into ‘let's spend some money before the end of the year, because we've got budget to spend’. And then there will be others that say; ‘okay, not great, but not terrible, so let's figure out a plan for 2025 but let's go, go go, because the conditions are going to be okay for growth’.
"We've had enough upheaval. There's been enough shenanigans: there’s been inflation, there's been rising interest rates, there's been a general election, there's been a Budget, and now there's going to be Christmas, and that's always good excuse not to do anything.
“The events industry will slow down at the back end of November. It used to fall off a cliff and then then bounce back off a trampoline and land on the top of a cliff because it was Christmas, and everybody made a load of money over Christmas, but that doesn’t happen any more. They make a bit of money on Christmas, but not that much, it still hasn't returned and it may never.
“So I think everybody will be getting it together over December, January, and then getting on with it in January and February and we should see a strong 2025.”
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