Cover story
SG Clean
Government agency
Enterprise Singapore (ESG)
and the Singapore Tourism
Board (STB) are targeting
the tourism, food and retail
sectors to come on board
their SG Clean campaign - a
government backed effort to
rally businesses and the public
to uphold good sanitation
standards and hygiene
practices.
Mr Keith Tan, Chief
Executive, Singapore
Tourism Board, said: “Over
the next two months, STB
aims to audit and certify 570
hotels, attractions, and other
tourism establishments.
The SG Clean quality mark
sends a strong signal to both
locals and visitors that our
tourism businesses take their
cleanliness and hygiene very
seriously and are committed
to maintaining these high
standards as a ‘new normal’
for the future.”
To be certified, businesses
have to go through a seven-
point checklist tailored to the
requirements and operations
in the various sectors.
w w w.exhibitionworld.co.uk
Venues
transform to fill
the hospital gap
ajor exhibition centres around
the world have been quick to
work with governments, the
military and local authorities
and health services to transform halls into
temporary hospitals to alleviate the pressure
on existing under pressure facilities as the
global effort against Covid-19 intensifies.
Among the first large centres to transform
themselves into temporary hospitals were
Reed’s Messe Wien in Austria. That project
got off the mark with 800 beds installed by
15 March, with a total target of 3,111 bed
expected to follow quickly.
Karachi Expo in Sindh province, Pakistan,
is also being transformed into a hospital
to deal with coronavirus patients and
authorities hope to make 10,000 beds
available there thanks in part to a 7.21bn
rupee investment authorised by Chief
Minister Murad Ali Shah.
Easyfairs moved early to make its venues
in Benelux and Sweden available to the
authorities free of charge.
The venues in question are Flanders Expo
(Ghent), Antwerp Expo (Antwerp), Namur
Expo (Namur) and Nekkerhall Brussels
North (Mechelen) in Belgium, the halls of
Hardenberg, Gorinchem and Venray in
the Netherlands as well as Kistamässan
(Stockholm), Malmömässan (Malmö) and
Abymässan (Gothenburg) in Sweden.
Eric Everard, CEO and founder of
Easyfairs, said: “It seemed obvious that we
should be part of the collective effort to
combat coronavirus and provide as much
relief as possible to those directly affected.
“Our exhibition halls can accommodate
temporary health centres, welcome and
sorting areas for patients, storage areas for
medical equipment, etc.”
UK Health Minister Matt Hancock
announced, 24 March, that ExCeL London,
the UK capital’s largest convention
centre, would be turned into a 4,000 bed
‘Nightingale’ hospital with two wards each
of 2,000 beds.
Jeremy Rees, CEO, ExCeL London said:
“We are proud to be able to accommodate
the increasing demand for hospital beds
and will work with the NHS to facilitate this
request. The team at ExCeL London will
ensure that we work with the government
and relevant authorities to support their
efforts in seeing the British people and the
UK through this unprecedented crisis.”
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo
toured the 167,000sqm Javits Center in New
York, as it prepared to be transformed into a
coronavirus medical complex.
Good news in Wuhan, the city where the
coronavirus outbreak started, has shuttered
its hospital temporarily located in the city’s
biggest exhibition centre.
The Berlin authorities are setting up a
provisional hospital with up to 1,000 beds
on the exhibition site under the Funkturm
(radio tower) in the German capital. The
facility in one of the exhibition halls, said
Dilek Kalayci, Senator for Heath, Care and
Equality in the Berlin Senate.
While IFEMA Madrid opened the largest
temporary hospital in Europe, hoping to fit
5,500 beds inside its exhibition halls. Iran’s
IIEC is also converting into a hospital.
“Many of our members are supporting
the emergency response to the crisis in their
respective cities, building temporary shelters
and installing beds in case local hospitals
are unable to cope with demand. It is always
humbling to see how our industry comes
together in difficult times”, commented UFI
MD and CEO Kai Hattendorf.
Issue 2 2020
21