Phase 3 businesses resigned to waiting their turn to reopen

Singapore

LARGE-scale events and venues such as conferences, exhibitions, concerts and trade fairs; and entertainment venues such as bars, nightclubs, karaoke outlets, cinemas, theatres, as well as indoor and outdoor attractions will still remain shut when Phase 2 kicks in on Friday.

But operators and owners of those businesses said they were neither surprised nor caught off-guard by the announcement. On the contrary, they are taking the gradual reopening of other sectors of the economy in their stride.

Singapore Nightlife Business Association president Joseph Ong, 48 said: "Of course it is unfortunate that nightclubs and bars have to wait a little longer but it is something we expected.

"At this moment, what we hope is that the government continues to support the bars and nightclubs with the rental reprieves.

"And now that we have phase two in place, we can begin to hold discussions on when phase three can start. We will have to work with the authorities and do what can we do to ensure we can open the premises safely."

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Concert promoters will also have to sit tight as they wait for the green light to stage shows again.

Lauretta Alabons, co-founder and managing director of LAMC Productions, noted that with global travel restrictions in place, artistes are still unable to tour anyway.

"Yes, of course business has been affected but we wouldn't want to take any risks. We have just had to take a step back and re-focus on other avenues."

Likewise, Dan Gordon, managing director of Now/Live, another concert organiser, said he expects shows to be on hiatus till next year: "Unfortunately, it is going to take some time before we can have shows. We have been hard at work rescheduling most concerts to 2021. I think once we have travel restrictions lifted and there are no capacity limits in place, we can see a flurry of concerts next year."

On the events front, Choong Chyi Kei, chief executive of Aux Media Group, sees a silver lining in the way the crisis has given them time to put into action the various concepts it has developed to connect its brand partners with a remote audience.

Surinder Mastana, director of Fractal Events added: "Businesses in my industry are moving into virtual seminars and events. We have a suite of products that we showcase to our customers."

While he admits takeup is slow and customers are adopting a wait-and-see approach, Mr Singh is heartened by how "everyone is sticking together, not just within businesses but even at the industry level."

He said: "We are sharing information with each other through the industry networks that we have and that's a good thing."

As for cinemas, a Golden Village spokesperson said the chain is in consultation with Infocomm Media Development Authority, alongside other cinema operators, to jointly develop and establish the necessary precautionary measures that will have to be implemented when they are allowed to reopen.

"We will continue with regular thorough cleaning and disinfecting of our cinemas, together with maintenance and servicing works, to ensure our cinemas are in pristine condition once we reopen to provide our patrons with the ultimate movie-going experience," GV's spokesperson added.

Additional reporting by Leila Lai

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