A growing number of international trade shows are being rescheduled or postponed in response to concerns about the worsening coronavirus situation.
Diversified Communications UK announced that it had secured new dates for Natural & Organic Products Europe, after consulting widely with stakeholders and deciding that rescheduling the event was “in the best interest of our community”. The event will now take place on Tuesday 7 and Wednesday 8 July 2020.
Commenting, Diversified’s managing director, Carsten Holm, said: “We are in uncharted territory and we believe that carrying on with the current dates would not be in the best interests of our community. The show is a very important event on the calendar and attracts a a high number of international visitors and exhibitors from affected countries. The current advice is that the situation is likely to peak over the next few weeks, so we look forward to welcoming everyone to the show in early July.”
“We are in uncharted territory and we believe that carrying on with the current dates would not be in the best interests of our community”
He added: “It was important for us to make the decision early, as we want exhibitors to have the time to make changes and prepare for the new dates before we get too close to the event.”
Informa Markets says that its Geneva-based Vitafoods Europe event will be postponed until September, commenting that “following consultation with our stakeholders, and taking the continually evolving health concerns and travel restrictions into consideration, we are agreed the postponement the is best course of action.”
On Friday, the organisers of this week’s CBD Global Summit 2020 event, announced that it was being postponed, due to “continually evolving health concerns and travel restrictions”.
Earlier this month, New Hope Network, the organiser of leading US event Natural Products Expo West, announced the postponement of the Anaheim-located event as growing numbers of exhibitors and buyers signalled that they did not want it to go ahead at the current time.
In late February, the organiser of Cosmoprof Worldwide Bologna said the event would be moved to early summer, following a worsening of Italy’s coronavirus outbreak.
A host of other international trade events have also rescheduled or postponed in recent days and weeks, including the London Book Fair and Raw Wine (London), several high profile events in Germany (whose trade fair industry attracts over 400 million visitors annually) including the Hannover Industrial Fair, CFIA in France and Green Energy Exopo Daego (South Korea).
A string of major sporting events have also been postponed or forced to go ahead behind closed doors. Some major conference and corporate events, meanwhile, have moved their events online, webcasting keynotes and adding digital ‘ask an expert’ sessions.