Vaccine Passport: The first positive assessment at festivals and movie theaters

There were no traffic jams at the entrance, the concert started late or aggressively … Many festivals get a positive rating in the first days of applying for a vaccine passport.

A little slower

It definitely slows down the entry process a bit, but it went well, it wasn’t a big burden, Chloé El-Sayegh, Contre-Courant publicist observed. The event features concerts on the water at the Park Jean-Dropio in Montreal from Wednesday to Saturday evening.

This went very well, and people were comfortable showing their vaccine passports, explained Mary-Pierre Letourno, manager of the Festival de la Poutine Communications, which opened its doors Thursday in Drummondville. Thursday evening was festive, in normal condition.

The same thing happens with the Emerging Music Festival (FME) on Thursdays and Sundays at ABTB-Temiscomming. We were pleasantly surprised, Said FME General Manager Magali Monderi-Larouche.

It should be noted that FME, like other festivals, has modified its logistics to suit this new measure. A central kiosk was set up to streamline the process of verifying vaccine evidence and the identity of members of the public. Approximately twenty people will be allowed to notify people and give them access to the festival 15 sites by placing a bracelet on their wrist after their QR code is verified.

As for the VaxiCode mobile application, it satisfies the festivities. It’s not perfect, but it’s not so bad, says Magali Monderi-Larouche. The app works better on iPhone than Android.

Cine lovers have come ready and ready

When it comes to movie theaters, most people have their own QR code. The mobile app works wonderfully, Mario Fortin, President and CEO of Bubian Cinemas, Museum in Park and Montreal.

Most people appear with paper credentials, not electronic, he adds. This requires a slight adjustment period, the paper has an annoying tendency to wrinkle or is printed with more or less equal quality, which makes the QR code difficult to read.

However, the big test has not yet taken place, according to Eric Bouchard, co-president of the Quebec Cinemas Owners Association (APCQ) and owner of Cinema Saint-Eustach.

Wednesday is a good time to get acquainted with this new measure, because the weather is good and it’s back to school, so not many people, He said before mentioning that it would rain Monday in the Montreal area.

Consequences on attendance?

At present, it is too early to predict the consequences of vaccine passport implementation on film attendance. We expect a 20 to 30% reduction, Explains Mario Fortin.

He decided to clear each room to vacate one session and sessions per day and facilitate access to rooms despite controlling vaccine evidence. If things go awry, we’ll add a session.

In addition to the financial losses caused by this 20% reduction in supply, there are additional costs of one hundred or more hours generated by the certification of the vaccine passport.

If the festivals received requests for ticket reimbursement after the announcement that the vaccine had created a passport, they were able to resell some of these seats. This is the case with FME, which reimbursed 300 tickets out of the 20,000 passed. Nearly half of these places were found by takers, Refers to Magali Mondari-Laroucheni.

On Friday evening, the Putin Festival was sold out, with maximum capacity almost reached after the first evening.

We received between 10% and 15% of Reimbursement Requests, but we achieved our targets for this first year contract-current, Underline, for the most part, Close El-Sai.