It’s hard times for trade fair organizers – especially in the automotive industry. Whether IAA or Geneva Motor Show – the enthusiasm of car manufacturers to present their products with elaborate events at major industry fairs is waning – as is the number of visitors.
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With the corona virus, the international trade fair organizers are now facing yet another challenge that has even led to their cancellation at some events – such as most recently at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. The fair in Frankfurt and the one in Geneva recently canceled smaller events and postponed them to a later date in the summer.
The organizer Palexpo wants to hold on to the Geneva Motor Show, which is to take place from March 5 to 15, according to the current status. However, a number of large car manufacturers are no longer represented there this year. In addition to Cadillac, Ford, Jaguar, Lamborghini, Land Rover, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Peugeot, Citroen, Opel and Subaru, Tata, Tesla and Volvo are also not on site in Geneva, wrote the car expert Ferdinand Dudenhöffer, who switched to the University of St. Gallen on Tuesday.
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“At the moment it is definitely that the fair is taking place,” a spokeswoman said on Tuesday at the request of manager magazin. Cancellations from exhibitors due to the corona virus were not received. The last word, she emphasized, would have the Swiss health authorities, which they say regularly check the situation.
“We monitor the situation and then decide accordingly,” a spokesman for the Swiss Federal Office of Public Health told manager magazin on Tuesday.
Chinese exhibitors under special observation
In order to weigh visitors and exhibitors as safely as possible, the organizer, according to its own information, has therefore asked exhibitors from China “to ensure that their staff have passed the required controls in the 14 days before their arrival in Switzerland and that there are no signs of this Infection “. All companies would have followed this request, the spokeswoman said. However, this is done on a voluntary basis.
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According to their information, only four of the approximately 150 exhibitors come from China, two from Hong Kong. However, authorities recently expanded the official risk areas from the Chinese areas in Hubei and Zhejiang provinces to areas in four provinces in South Korea, Italy and Iran.
An exhibitor does not get his car to Switzerland
For the car manufacturer Aiways, the Covid 19 outbreak already has practical consequences for its trade fair appearance. Because of the virus outbreak, the export of the new model, which Aiways actually wanted to present at the fair, was stopped, as the spokeswoman for the car show organizers explained. Now the press conference will take place virtually and be streamed, similar to how the Italian fashion designer Armani practiced in view of the Italian Covid-19 infections.
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In addition, the organizers of the car salon rely on a “sanitation action plan”, which provides for the increased use of disinfectants and the awareness of staff and employees.
So far, the ITB travel fair, which is planned to take place in Berlin from March 4 to 8, has also relied on the latter. The fair has already received cancellations in view of the virus. Six of 22 exhibitors from China have so far canceled their participation, a spokesman said. With a total of 10,000 exhibitors, however, these only made up a small part. A cancellation of the fair has not yet been planned, it said. But there is close contact with the health authorities.
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