Thailand's event organising industry is in dire straits, with up to 90% of events already cancelled or postponed in the first quarter of 2020 amid the coronavirus outbreak.
Upathum Nisitsukcharoen, chief executive of event organiser Rightman Co and president of the Event Management Association, said that if the epidemic continues into the second half of the year, at least 50 small event organisers will likely have to shut down.
"Nonetheless, the new virus outbreak is not alone to be blamed," Mr Upathum said. "The market itself has already faced a host of negative factors, be it the country's economic slowdown, widespread drought or PM2.5 pollution. These factors undermine the mood and tone of clients who would launch events."
The spread of coronavirus at events in Singapore, in particular, is a concern among clients. "If an incident takes place at our event, I don't know how to take charge of such huge damages," Mr Upathum said. "It is now the most difficult time that event organisers have confronted in three decades of providing event organising in Thailand."
The local event organising sector is valued at 12-13 billion baht annually. Some 400-500 event organisers are registered with the Commerce Ministry, with big companies including CMO Group, Index Creative Village Plc and Rightman.
Mr Upathum said the events that have been postponed are mostly seminars and launches of new consumer products and cars, as well as the Got7 K-pop concert.
"With all the negative factors, particularly the Covid-19 outbreak, we estimate that 3-4 billion baht will be lost this year," he said, using the medical jargon for the virus.
Kreingkarn Kanjanapokin, chief executive of Index Creative Village, said five big international exhibitions have postponed their events to April. Other events, including the S2O Songkran Music Festival, are under consideration for cancellation.
"We expect the outbreak to make the events market contract by 5% this year," Mr Kreingkarn said.
A source from a big event organiser said the coronavirus outbreak has taken a heavy toll on Thailand's overall events business, as some countries like France have warned citizens against travelling abroad for six months.
About half of this company's clients from retail, consumer goods and banking have cancelled events meant to be held at shopping centres in Bangkok in the first quarter.
"Some events arranged in the first two months of this year turned out to be very tepid," said the source, who asked not to be named. "Consumer response was not great, with the number of participants for each event dropping by 30-40%."
Paul Kanjanapas, managing director of Impact Exhibition Management Co, said 258 exhibitions booked space at Impact Muang Thong Thani in the first quarter, down from 289 in the same period last year. He blamed the impact of the virus outbreak.
International and local exhibitions alike have postponed their events for 4-6 months. Pharmaceutical fair CPhI South East Asia 2020, for instance, moved its dates from March 4-6 to July 1-3.