Events cancelled or postponed over coronavirus fears
The London book fair has been cancelled. More than 25,000 publishers, authors and agents were due to attend the fair on 10 to 12 March, where deals for biggest books are struck.
05 Mar 2020 | By Charmiane Alexander
Organiser Reed Exhibitions announced on 4 March that the escalation of the illness meant the fair would be called off. Already publishers and rights agencies had withdrawn from the show. Some of the world’s biggest, including Penguin Random House, HarperCollins and Hachette had already pulled out, as had Amazon and a host of literary agencies including Curtis Brown.
Meanwhile the Leipzig Book Fair will no longer take place on 13–15 March as planned per the direction of the German Federal Ministry of Health and the Federal Ministry of Economics.
Likewise Fespa officials took the decision to postpone Fespa Global Print Expo 2020, European Sign Expo 2020 and Sportswear Pro 2020, originally scheduled to take place at IFEMA Madrid from 24 to 27 March 2020.
Informa Markets in Vietnam has taken the decision to postpone ProPak Vietnam to 9–11 September 2020 (the show was originally scheduled for 24-26 March).
PrintWeek's partner magazine, Campaign India's Media360 Summit will not be taking place as scheduled on 17 March in Mumbai, due to concerns around Covid-19. The online awards judging will go ahead as planned.
Due to the outbreak of Covid-19, VA Exhibitions the organisers of Snack & BakeTec and Pac MechEx have taken a decision to postpone Snack and BakeTec & Pac MechEx 2020. This show is a specialised trade fair for snacks, bakery & confectionery processing & packaging technology.
The advertising conclave
Most of the authorities we spoke to said, they will provide an update regarding revised event dates in due course.
No intention to postpone Drupa and Interpack
Meanwhile Messe Düsseldorf has cancelled a raft of upcoming proprietary events in March and early April due to the coronavirus situation, but said there are currently "no intentions" to postpone Interpack or Drupa.
Interpack takes place from 7-13 May while Drupa 2020 is being held later in the year than usual, from 16-26 June, due to the Messe's decision to stick with a four-year cycle rather than reduce it to three.
At Drupa, China accounts for the second-largest number of exhibitors with 349, behind Germany with 438. At the last Drupa in 2016 3% of visitors came from China.
Interpack has 299 Chinese exhibitors, behind Germany (584) and Italy (409).
But the Messe authorities told PrintWeek that their shows ProWein, Wire, Tube, Beauty, Top Hair and Energy Storage Europe would be postponed due to "the significant increase in infected persons, and uncertainty around travel for international exhibitors and attendees."
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