Some entertainment promoters are up in arms over what they consider to be Government’s blatant and deliberate attempt to profit from their ventures.
The promoters are contending that while they are made to pay officials from the Ministry of Health to conduct testing at their events, bars and restaurants are allowed to bypass this requirement by virtue of not charging patrons to enter the venue.
The irate group who spoke to Barbados TODAY on condition of anonymity for fear of victimization said the COVID-19 protocols were putting them at a disadvantage.
“I cannot understand how someone can hold a free event at a venue and there is no one from the vaccination unit or the verification unit. That free event can attract hundreds of people but there is no requirement for the organizers to have any official from the Ministry of Health there so they don’t have to pay a cent.
“But if a promoter decides to hold an event at that same venue and charge a $5 entrance fee, all of a sudden officials from the Ministry of Health have to be there and you have to pay $170 to anyone who comes from the verification unit. How can that be fair?” one disgruntled promoter asked.
“That clearly shows that it cannot be about health and safety alone because you don’t have to be fully vaccinated or produce a negative COVID test to attend a free event, but because someone is charging an entrance fee all of a sudden there is a requirement to have officials from the Ministry of Health present? It appears as if we are being targeted and Government is trying to find a way to make money off of us.”
Another veteran promoter explained that bars and restaurants were getting away “scot-free”.
“The ironic thing is that those free promotions in many instances have bigger crowds than the events where people have to pay. So people are going to those promotions not having to worry about having to produce a negative test if they are unvaccinated. It is essentially the same atmosphere as a cruise or a fete.
“Why is it that as soon as a promoter decides to hold an event to try to make some money the goal posts start to move and we have to pull our pockets? If you are going to have persons from the Ministry of Health at an event where patrons have to pay and there are 300 people there, then the same officials from the ministry should be present for a free event if the same 300 people are going to be there,” he lamented.
“As soon as you have to pay everybody is coming into play.”
Another concerned promoter told Barbados TODAY he was bewildered as to why workers in the hospitality sector who go to work every day were being asked to produce a negative test in order to work at functions or events.
“In restaurants they have the same workers every single day serving the same people. If they go to an event they have to be either fully vaccinated or take a COVID test? What sense does that make? They are the same workers who are going to work every day and serving, in a lot of instances, the same people who are going to these events, but all of a sudden they have to be fully vaccinated or take a COVID test,” he noted.
“I understand the easing of the mask-wearing because that makes sense because Barbados was facing a lot of competition. But when you look at it from a business point, you are targeting event producers who have not made any money in the last two and a half years.”
(randybennett@barbadostoday.bb)
