Coronavirus
Stay connected,
stay informed,
stay united
dmittedly it is a mangling
of Metternich’s famous
phrase, but China has
sneezed and the whole
world is catching a cold - and a serious one
at that.
As the Covid-19 coronavirus continues
to spread, the meetings industry has been
one of the first sectors to be impacted, as
events are cancelled or postponed.
At time of going to press, over 90,000
cases had been confirmed across 37
countries (source: WHO) and big ticket
events such as the Mobile World
Congress in Barcelona, the Japan Boat
Show, ITB Berlin, MIPIM, Paris Book
Fair and the Swatch Time to Move
conference in Zurich, as well as numerous
conferences in the worst affected areas of
Asia,
have been cancelled or
postponed.
INDUSTRY ASSOCIATIONS
HAVE ISSUED URGENT
CALLS FOR UNITY AND ARE
SHARING EXPERIENCES AND
INFORMATION IN THE FACE
OF THE MOUNTING GLOBAL
CORONAVIRUS CHALLENGE.
PAUL COLSTON REPORTS
Switzerland, 28 February, became the
first country in Europe to ban events
involving 1,000 people or more (at least
until 15 March). That includes the Geneva
Motor Show, which had been due to
celebrate its 90th edition in March.
France soon followed with a ban on events
involving 5,000 or more people.
CiscoLive cancelled its Melbourne
conference for 8,500-pax, much to the
consternation of the destination and
venue. Melbourne Convention and
Exhibition Centre’s Chief Executive Peter
King said the decision was made by
Cisco’s US corporate office and was not
reflective of the business events
environment in Australia at the time.
“Cisco is one of our largest events. It was
an extremely disappointing cancellation
because we as a business, and also the
local business events community, invested
a huge amount of time in Cisco. It brings
high-yield delegates to Melbourne and to
have that cancelled at such a late stage
was a hit,” said King. “We have
hundreds of casual workers and
also stand builders who will
no longer have an income
that week. And we’ve got
many hotel rooms that are
going to be vacant, many
(cancelled) restaurant
bookings, bringing
about a ripple effect
from such large
events,” King
continued.
However, many
leading industry voices
have echoed the thoughts of Gloria
Guevara, President and CEO, World
Travel & Tourism Council, who said:
“Containing the spread of unnecessary
panic is as important as stopping the virus
itself”. The IMEX leadership has, for
example, issued a very clear message that
it is confidently planning for its show to
go on, while monitoring closely the full
facts of the situation around public health.
Industry associations ICCA and UFI
have provided hubs on their websites and
links to advisories and medical updates
(check Covid-19 liveblog and UFI’s ufi.
org/coronavirus).
In an attempt to get some early
perspective, ICCA’s research division
issued statistics in mid-February that
showed that of 1,065 meetings in its
Association Database scheduled in Asia
Pacific for 2020, 44 reported being
affected by Covid-19 (4.1%). Of these 34
were postponed, five cancelled and five
relocated. That figure was beginning to
look very conservative by the beginning
of March, however.
“We encourage our member-suppliers
and associations to be pragmatic in these
challenging times but to also share
positive messages,” was the Canute-like
message from ICCA President Senthil
Gopinath. “Big events are continuing to
take place in their destinations, despite
worries and complications brought from
the Covid-19 outbreak,” he added,
continuing: “To boost the meetings
industry during this difficult period, we
should send out encouraging messages to
show we are united, resilient and
ISSUE 105
/
CONFERENCE & MEETINGS WORLD
/
17