Strategi Bertahan Venue di Masa Pandemi

Biaya operasional terus berjalan, sementara pendapatan justru berkurang. Lalu bagaimana strategi venue bertahan di tengah pandemi?

Asosiasi Perusahaan Pameran Indonesia (Asperapi) mencatat, setidaknya ada 239 pameran yang batal diselenggarakan pada 2020 akibat pandemi COVID-19. Selain pameran, kegiatan MICE lain juga banyak yang ditunda bahkan dibatalkan. Kondisi ini tentu memukul pelaku usaha MICE, salah satunya pengelola venue MICE.

Situasinya tentu tidak mengenakan. Pendapatan jauh berkurang, sementara biaya operasional venue terus berjalan. Seperti disampaikan Direktur Utama Indonesia Convention Exhibition (ICE) BSD, Ryan Adrian dalam program podcast di YouTube MICE Indonesia, menurutnya pengelola venue MICE harus adaptif.

“Adaptif itu artinya dinamis. Apalagi venue itu bisnis jangka panjang,” ujarnya. Ia juga berbagi strategi yang dijalankan ICE, “Revenue tidak bisa kita kontrol, tapi cost (operasional) bisa kami kontrol sampai marketnya membaik dan market baru timbul.”

Mengontrol biaya operasional menjadi salah satu strategi venue bertahan saat pandemi. Mengingat banyak event MICE yang dibatalkan atau ditunda, dan situasi yang serba tidak pasti membuat pendapatan dari kegiatan MICE tidak bisa diprediksi. Sehingga yang bisa dikontrol ialah pengeluaran atau biaya operasional. Kalaupun beralih ke kegiatan online revenue-nya tidak terlalu besar.

Strategi kedua dengan melakukan diversifikasi usaha. Dua venue MICE besar di Indonesia, yakni ICE BSD dan Bali Nusa Dua Convention Center (BNDCC) sama-sama berjualan makanan dari restorannya secara daring.

“Kami melayani katering ke rumah-rumah. Memang revenue tidak besar, tapi kami harus bertahan,” cetus Ryan.

Strategi ketiga, menambah infrastruktur berupa jaringan internet dan tidak mengorbankan kualitas layanan demi efisiensi.

Seperti kita tahu, di era pandemi, jaringan internet yang stabil menjadi tulang punggung kegiatan MICE yang berlangsung daring dan hibrid. ICE BSD menyediakan tiga provider internet sekaligus, untuk saling back-up jika salah satu provider mengalami gangguan. Sementara BNDCC menyediakan jaringan fiber optik.

Strategi bertahan venue ini tak hanya relevan di masa pandemi, pasca pandemi strategi yang sudah dijalankan ini akan tetap penting untuk terus dijalankan.

English

Venue Survival Strategies during the Pandemic

Operational cost is always present, but the amount of income decreases. So, what should venues do to survive during the pandemic?

Indonesia Exhibition Companies Association reported that there were at least 239 cancelled exhibitions in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to exhibitions, other MICE events are also postponed or even cancelled. This condition hurts the MICE industry, whose one of the contributors is MICE venues.

This is obviously an uncomfortable situation. Income drops, but operational costs are always there. MICE venues need to be adaptive, as Ryan Adrian (President Director of Indonesia Convention Exhibition (ICE) BSD put it in MICE Indonesia’s podcast on YouTube.

“Being adaptive means being dynamic, especially since running a venue is a long-term business,” he said. He also shared his strategies in ICE, “We cannot control our revenue, but (operational) costs are controllable until the market improves and new markets appear.”

Controlling the operational costs is a strategy for venues to survive during the pandemic. Since a number of MICE events are postponed or cancelled and the whole situation is uncertain, the income from MICE activities are unpredictable. Therefore, what we can control is the expense or the operational cost, even when the revenue isn’t profitable enough with online events.

The second strategy is to do business diversification. Two big MICE venues in Indonesia, i.e. ICE BSD and Bali Nusa Dua Convention Center (BNDCC) are selling food from their restaurants online.

“We provide catering services to homes. The revenue isn’t big, but we must sustain ourselves,” added Ryan.

The third strategy is to add an internet network infrastructure and maintain the service quality for efficiency.

As we know, a stable internet network has become the backbone of online and hybrid MICE events. ICE BSD provides three internet providers as backups in case one provider has an issue. Meanwhile, BNDCC provides an optical fiber network.

These strategies are not only relevant during the pandemic. They will also be helpful after the pandemic.