New Year's Eve celebrations in Canberra remain uncertain despite a relaxation of restrictions at outdoor gatherings.
ACT chief health officer Dr Kerryn Coleman announced on Friday outdoor gatherings of 500 would be permitted from November 13. Punters would also be permitted to stand while drinking outside.
Despite the relaxation, the future of Canberra's major summer events, including the National Multicultural Festival in February and Enlighten Festival in March, had not been decided.
Events ACT said the government was in the process of reviewing whether these and the NYE fireworks' display could be modified in line with the COVID Safe Events Protocol and the public health directions.
Enabling enough time to plan and deliver Enlighten and the Multicultural Festival could see them rescheduled to later in 2021, the spokesperson said.
Fireworks Australia, the company that designs and stages pyrotechnic shows for the Canberra Show, Summernats, NYE and Australia Day by the lake, was waiting on directions this week as to whether the January 1 show would go ahead.
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Pyrotechnic designer and a co-owner Martin Brady said they had survived 2020 on the few contracts not cancelled at the snow fields over winter.
"We thought last year was bad with the bushfires," Mr Brady said.
"This is worse."
Brisbane and Adelaide have both announced the cancellation of NYE fireworks displays this year, with Melbourne expected to follow suit.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has said the internationally-renowned display would go ahead in Sydney "in one form or another" despite Deputy Premier John Barilaro calling its cancellation inevitable.
Canberra Region Tourism Leaders Forum chair David Marshall will be on a committee tasked with bringing tourists back to the ACT safely.
He said big tourism events were crucial as they generated $2.5 billion annually.
"The priority is to get visitors into the ACT. We usually have 5 million visitors annually, which has obviously been dramatically reduced as a result of what we've just experienced," he said.
"Floriade was very good this year in the way it was dispersed through the suburbs but it wasn't a tourist event.
"We need to think creatively about how we can manage that next year and get the 400,000-plus people who usually see the event back into Commonwealth Park."
Mr Marshall said there was an urgency in getting ideas off the ground to give event organisers time to prepare.
"Other states are also starting to look at how they can run events in a COVID-safe environment so we certainly have to be looking at how we run Floriade, Enlighten and the Multicultural Festival," Mr Marshall said.
Restrictions could soon ease further with the next checkpoint on November 27. The National Folk Festival was cancelled over Easter.
