The ongoing coronavirus outbreak has caused the postponement or cancellation of a number of major conferences and events.
Late last week the organizers of ITB Berlin 2020, which had been scheduled to take place March 4 – 8, cancelled the event, reporting that they would be unable to comply with increased coronavirus screening requirements mandated by local health authorities. These requirements would have required all event attendees to prove that they have not come from defined coronavirus risk areas or have had contact with a person from the risk areas. The event organizers said that they would not be able to implement these requirements.
ITB India 2020, which was scheduled to take place April 15 – 17, 2020, at the Bombay Exhibition Center, has been postponed until April 2021. ITB India 2021 will take place April 7 – 9, 2021, at the same venue.
ITB China, which had been scheduled for May 13 – 15 at the Shanghai World Expo Exhibition and Convention Center, has likewise been postponed, although the new date for that event has not yet been announced.
Another Berlin-based event, the International Hospitality and Investment Forum (IHIF), has also been postponed from March 2- 4 to May 4 -6. (The event is owned by Meeting Spotlight’s parent company, Questex.) The IHIF, along with its co-located event Adjacent Spaces@IHIF, will now take place on those dates at the InterContinental Hotel and Pullman hotel, respectively.
Google has cancelled the Google I/O event, its annual conference for software developers. This year’s edition had been scheduled to take place at the Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, CA. The company said that all guests who have purchased tickets will receive a full refund by March 13.
The PATA Annual Summit 2020, which had been scheduled for March 31 – April 3 at the Al Hamra International Exhibition and Conference Center in Ras Al Khaimah, UAE, has been cancelled. Organizers report that the Ras Al Khaimah Tourism Development Authority has agreed to host the 2021 edition of the conference, with the dates for next year’s event to be announced “in due time.”
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