The deep impact of ITB Berlin 2020 cancellation

The trouble begins with complications of refunds and compensations
2020-02-29
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/ Kolkata
/ Events
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ITB berlin 2020

After speculations and rumours doing rounds in the industry, the organisers finally officially announced that ITB Berlin will not take place in 2020 due to rapid spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) in various pockets of the world. Now the bigger story will unfold with layers of losses and deep impact on the tourism industry.

The Federal Ministry of Health and the Federal Ministry of Economics of Germany have stated their opinion that ITB Berlin be cancelled, following which on Saturday, Feb 28, evening at 1827 hrs local time, the responsible health authority of the district of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf in Berlin imposed significantly tighter restrictions on holding the event. Among its requirements, the authority stipulated that each participant would need to prove to Messe Berlin that they were ‘not from a designated risk area’ or ‘had not been in contact with a person or persons from a risk area’. It is not possible for Messe Berlin to satisfy these requirements overall, the official statement declared.

It is interesting to note that while the first part of the requirement was a concrete criterion demanding to know if the attendee visited a certain risk area or areas; but the second part to confirm ‘had not been in contact with a person or persons from a risk area’ completely rules out any possibility to realistically fulfil by anyone. The organiser Messe Berlin had no option but to cancel the show as no person can prove the second part.

Messe Berlin has been heavily criticised for delaying the decision to cancel the show till the last moment amounting to heavy loss to the global travel trade fraternity. The cost of travel, accommodation, hiring staff, exhibition stand contracting to potential business – everything has come to a standstill and from big to small every stakeholder is now worried about the imminent loss. As it is still too early to count the loss and start talking about insurance, the potential loss faced by any government organisation will ultimately remain the respective country’s taxpayers’ money.

Christian Göke, the CEO of Messe Berlin GmbH, said, “With more than 10,000 exhibitors from over 180 countries, ITB Berlin is extremely important for the world’s tourism industry. We take our responsibility for the health and safety of our visitors, exhibitors and employees very seriously. It is with a heavy heart that we must now come to terms with the cancellation of ITB Berlin 2020.”

The chairman of the supervisory board of Messe Berlin Wolf-Dieter Wolf commented, ”Not once in the 54-year history of the event have ITB Berlin and Messe Berlin experienced a similar situation. We would like to thank all exhibitors and partners from all over the world who over the past few days and weeks have stood by ITB Berlin. We look forward to continuing the trusted relationship with our partners in the market.”

However, Gloria Guevara, the president and CEO of World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) and former tourism minister of Mexico, who has a first-hand experience of containing a major viral incident after dealing with the H1N1 influenza virus in Mexico said, “Governments and those in authority must not seek to choke travel and trade at this time. Closing borders, imposing blanket travel bans and implementing extreme policies are not the answer to stopping the spread of coronavirus. Past experience shows that taking such extreme action has been ineffective at best. We urge governments to explore fact-based measures which don’t affect the vast majority of people and businesses for whom travel is essential.”

There are over 500 reported cases of coronavirus in Europe only. While Italy registered a 25 per cent surge in coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, and the infections remain centred on outbreaks in two northern regions – Lombardy and Veneto, there are about 30 cases in Germany.

ITB Berlin is not the first event cancelled due to the outbreak of coronavirus. Mobile World Congress, one of the biggest tech events held in Barcelona, has also been cancelled by the authorities and the organisers due to health concerns. Japan is on the spotlight now because of the upcoming Olympics and Paralympics. There are talks that the sporting events may be cancelled as well given that there are more reported cases in Japan.

A large number of delegates from India visit ITB Berlin every year. India Tourism along with most of the top state tourism boards like Gujarat Tourism, Kerala Tourism, Goa Tourism, Odisha Tourism and others take big pavilions and promote Incredible India. Indian private inbound operators, hotels, resorts, travel media, as well as outbound agents and operators, visit ITB Berlin in large numbers to network with the global travel industry. On one hand, it is a place to showcase India, and on the other hand, it is a place for the outbound tour operators to find exclusive contacts with tourism board head-offices who are not present in India.

The president of Outbound Tour Operators Association of India (OTOAI), Riaz Munshi told India Outbound, “It is a dark day for tourism. We look forward to big tourism trade shows in India and abroad. There is no doubt that outside India, ITB Berlin and WTM London remain the top choices for the Indian travel trade, two events happening at two different seasons helping us do international business and networking very well. The cancellation of ITB Berlin will be a very big blow to the global travel trade and as Indian tourists mean a lot now, it will automatically disturb our flow of business, especially in generating new contacts, renewing deals, getting fresh materials and offering new packages to our clients.”

“This would have been our 12th ITB as an exhibitor to showcase our Eastern South Asia in the European market. Preparation was on full-swing until last week when we started getting concerned about the increasing spread of the novel coronavirus COVID-19. With 10,000 exhibitors and 100000 registered trade visitors from 180 countries, it was certainly a challenging but correct decision for Messe Berlin under the current circumstances. However, this would also have a long term impact as right now foreign outbound operators are fighting to convince clients not to cancel future travel as things will get normal in a while. Unfortunately, operators are also getting cancellations for winter period also so we are heading towards a very difficult time for the industry,” Debjit Dutta, the director and CEO of Impression Tourism Services and chairman of Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO), West Bengal told India Outbound.

Manav Soni, the chairman of Travel Agents Association of India – TAAI (Eastern Region) told India Outbound, “The worst situation is faced by the small and medium private participants who had curated their every bit of savings to spend during ITB Berlin and do some good business. The opportunity lost cannot be paid back in terms of insurance money as valuable time will be gone to recover from the global outbreak and the industry is already suffering from big corporate disasters, one after another But we have to remain resilient and be optimistic as health is the most important matter.”

“Indeed it is a difficult time for our travel trade fraternity, but we must use this free time to learn and upgrade ourselves so that when things normalise we are an upgraded version of ourselves and ready to serve the world,” said Jay Saraogi, director of Holiday Tripster an outbound operator from Kolkata to India Outbound.

It took a serious turn when amidst the escalating fear, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia issued a statement announcing a temporary suspension of entry for individuals planning to visit the country for the purpose of Umrah (pilgrimage) or for visiting the Prophet’s mosque in Medina.

Following that, another important development took place when the World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) and the World Health Organisation (WHO) jointly released a statement saying they are committed to working together in guiding the travel and tourism sector’s response to it.

On January 30, 2020, the director-general of WHO had already declared the outbreak of COVID-19 to be a public health emergency of international concern and issued a set of temporary recommendations. However WHO did not recommend any travel or trade restriction based on the current information available at that time. Countries like Thailand started 24×7 health updates keeping tourists well informed and also to not fall victim of any misinformation.

Messe Berlin had for weeks made it known that a decision on holding or cancelling large-scale events would only be taken based on the recommendations or instructions of the relevant specialist authorities. But the decision came only at the very last minute, that definitely saves a lot of people from potential life threats; but could have also saved many from financial distress if conveyed a bit earlier.

Now everyone concerned will have to wait for the news of refunds, financial compensations as the announcement of new dates for the 2021 show has already been made. The 2021 edition of ITB Berlin is scheduled from March 10 – 14.

It is a bad year for ITB, as they already had to cancel ITB China which was scheduled to take place in Shanghai in May 2020. However, the organisers are yet to announce any further date of ITB China edition. In view of this situation, it will be a tough call for the organisers on holding the upcoming maiden show in India during mid-April which is already facing legal complications. It is scheduled almost at the same time when Arabian Travel Market is scheduled in Dubai and there is no doubt that the global travel industry will choose to head to Dubai instead of an uncertain show in Mumbai.

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