With COVID-19 wreaking havoc on Malta’s wedding industry, Sarah Young Luxury Events & Weddings faced an even more particular challenge – 90 per cent of her business is incoming destination weddings.

She spoke on Episode 16 of The Boardroom this afternoon, presented by business-writer Jo Caruana.

As large public gatherings were banned for some time, and airports closed, Ms Young experienced a double-blow to her life’s work.

Within weeks of the pandemic gaining ground in Europe, Ms Young was contacted by various clients, with those who chose to postponed while others chose to cancel.

Ms Young even said that clients who had planned their destination wedding to Malta in 2021 even got in touch as they were concerned they would also be impacted.

She explained that as a company, they did not charge a penny for the hours taken to contact suppliers, find out terms and conditions of postponing or cancelling, and helping clients navigate the best way forward for their situation.

Ms Young said while the majority of clients postponed their weddings, there were a few cancellations. Among the reasons for this, she said, was that some venue owners were less accommodating than others, some wedding guests did not want to travel in 2020 and differing travel rules regarding quarantine, or the risk of contracting the virus in another country, complicated matters further.

Ms Young added that on top of that, some clients became redundant and could no longer afford a destination wedding, while the same could be said for some guests too.

She recalled a postponed wedding, with 80 visiting guests, where €60,000 worth of hotel rooms at a five-star hotel had to be cancelled. This, she said, really brought home the impact on the local economy – as such visiting guests spend their money at local restaurants, shops and other attractions.

“People are not certain about 2021 either, but can we take a hit for two years in a row? We need 2021 to be a very good year in order to make up for this. There are four weddings which we are taking care of that should still be going ahead. If those do not happen we would have gone December 2019 to March 2021 without a wedding, 15 months without income,” she said.