Performance Days has joined the growing list of COVID-19 driven event cancellations. However, there won’t be any new dates for the fair that was slated for April.
“After extensive internal and external consultation, monitoring of the COVID-19 virus pandemic and conscientious consideration of alternatives, such as postponing the fair to a later date in the summer, we have made this difficult decision: The PERFORMANCE DAYS fair on April 22-23 2020 in Munich is cancelled. There will be no alternative event date,” show organizers said in a statement.
Europe has been among the hardest hit by the coronavirus pandemic, and many countries in the region are struggling to get things under control. As of Tuesday, the World Health Organization reported Germany as having 29,212 confirmed cases of COVID-19, with 4,438 new cases confirmed in the last day. So far, 126 people have died in the country.
The uncertain spread is what has driven Performance Days to opt out of rescheduling the event as many other trade shows and fairs have done in hopes that the outbreak will be contained enough to press on.
“Given that infections all over the world have rapidly increased within the last few weeks, it is unclear how the virus will continue to spread. We also are aware that this is a global industry and many of us are faced with travel restrictions. As organizers of an international trade show, we consider it our responsibility, on the one hand, to safeguard the health of our guests, and on the other hand, to ensure a successful fair to visitors and exhibitors,” organizers said.
The plan now is to create digital alternatives to what attendees would have seen in April, including the Performance Forum fabrics and some of the expert talks. Performance Days said details about the digital substitutions “will follow soon.” Going forward, the expectation is that this Performance Days cancellation won’t adversely impact the future of the event.
“We believe that PERFORMANCE DAYS’ visitors, exhibitors, and partners have become a true community over the years, so that we are optimistic about moving forward together successfully soon!,” organizers said.