While the vaccination campaign is stalling in Germany, the operators of IFA 2021 are announcing a completely normal fair. There is a lot of optimism in this, because whether the target group, both exhibitors and visitors, will be able to attend such a large event by the beginning of September is anything but clear.
A large portion of purpose-optimism
At the moment it is by no means foreseeable how exactly this will ultimately take place. It is questionable that the younger audience in particular can be let under the radio tower in droves, given the prognoses of how they will be vaccinated in late summer.
So far, Germany has been running Vaccinations afterwards, for the group 15 to 50 years it is still a long way off. In this respect, it should be a large portion of optimism that Messe Berlin wants to exude.
As always, keeping our visitors and exhibitors safe is our top priority. The global vaccination effort is gaining huge momentum, while tough lockdowns are finally beginning to pay off – which gives us confidence that we can invite the world to come to Berlin in September for IFA 2021.
Hope dies last
The coming months will have to show how it will ultimately turn out. The first candidate IT fair, Computex 2021, had given up its date for the end of May. The MWC 2021 in Barcelona, on the other hand, should still take place, but many exhibitors are already canceling this June event, Europe is by no means over the Corona mountain at the time. In the end it will show whether IFA 2021 can be like IFA 2019.
Update May 19, 2021 12:49 pm
One month after the announcement of a completely normal IFA 2021 in late summer, Messe Berlin AG lost its optimism again: Due to the “lack of secure perspectives”, IFA 2021 has now been canceled.
The press release shows that the response from the exhibitors has so far been very subdued. In view of the worldwide progress of the vaccination campaign and new virus mutations, apparently only a few companies are ready to budget for an international trade fair in Berlin at the beginning of September.
< p class = "p text-width"> For global companies that present themselves at a leading trade fair such as the IFA, budgeting is mandatory several months before the start of the event. In the current pandemic situation, however, there is a lack of framework conditions that would provide a reliable and binding basis for this.
Last year, the trade fair operator held the IFA on a very small scale Exhibition center held in Berlin. According to the current status, the fair is now completely canceled this year.