Russia (bbabo.net), - The concert and theater industry has accumulated debts of 8 billion rubles to the audience in the form of vouchers and is under threat of mass bankruptcy. This was announced by the public ombudsman in the field of organizing cultural events Olga Shpigalskikh during the discussion of the upcoming annual report of Boris Titov, Commissioner for the Protection of the Rights of Entrepreneurs under the President of the Russian Federation.

“Of all industries, it was the concert and theater industry that suffered the most severe losses during the pandemic. And in particular its non-state sector, which before the start of the pandemic involved more than three thousand medium-sized businesses (event organizers, private theaters and concert venues, ticket operators) and involved - directly or indirectly - more than 600,000 employees," Shpigalskikh said.

According to the Association of Concert, Theater and Ticket Organizations (KTIBO), over the past two years, 15,000 events have been rescheduled and canceled, the organizers' revenue has decreased by more than 90%, and the industry is officially banned or restricted in most regions. Since 2020, the industry has issued about 5 million voucher tickets worth 8 billion rubles due to the postponement of concert dates. “The industry representatives have been unable to fulfill their obligations for two years now, because for this it is necessary to return to work with the possibility of 100% capacity of the halls. If concert organizations eventually go bankrupt, tickets for citizens can turn into “wrappers”, and this situation is take big social risks," Shpigalskikh warned.

Since mid-November last year, Russia has relaxed the requirements for holding mass enterprises: Rospotrebnadzor allowed to fill closed premises by 70%, provided that visitors have QR codes that confirm vaccination against coronavirus infection or the fact of a disease. At the regional level, there are additional restrictions, which in some places can be tougher.

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