Only a week after assuring the show would go ahead, organiser Messe Frankfurt has cancelled the leading global trade fair for printed textiles due to new government restrictions aimed at the worsening pandemic situation in Germany. A mandatory vaccination program for the country is now being prepared for February 2022.
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| Messe Frankfurt Exhibition Centre |
Just last week we reported that organisers were bullish on the show going ahead in January. However, things change fast in pandemic-hit areas.
“Due to this extreme escalation and the resulting deterioration of the general conditions within a very short time, we cannot keep the early date of Heimtextil directly at the beginning of the year, in the second week of January, and have to cancel Heimtextil with a heavy heart,” said a Messe Frankfurt press release.
“The exponential increase in the number of infections in a very short period of time and the accompanying multitude of developments and resolutions that are clearly outside the realm of influence of the organizer have led to a significant deterioration in the general conditions and necessary requirements for holding Heimtextil.
“These developments include in particular the classification of Germany as a high-risk area and the associated travel warnings, international and intercontinental travel restrictions in India, Japan, the United States and Great Britain, as well as the quarantine obligation and “2G” (only with vaccinated and recovered status) requirements without recognition of the WHO vaccine list in Germany. Equally important are the steadily rising infection figures and the accompanying urgent appeal, including by the Robert Koch Institute, to reduce contacts to a minimum and to cancel all major events.
“The cancellation is all the more difficult for us in view of the promising starting conditions for the re-launch of Heimtextil. As recently as mid-November, a cancellation was hardly conceivable. Around 1,500 exhibitors from 50 countries had confirmed their participation. There was and is no doubt about our proven safety and hygiene concept.”
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| (Conference of Minister Presidents) |
Germany’s Conference of Minister Presidents announced on Thursday stricter guidelines and restrictions nationwide to break the fourth Corona wave in Germany.
"Compulsory vaccination for certain professions will be implemented quickly," it said. "A general mandatory vaccination will be prepared for February 2022."
Messe Frankfurt is hoping Heimtextil can be held in June 2022.
“Despite everything, we are united by the desire to look optimistically beyond January. We all want personal business encounters and product experiences live on site again. That's why we will examine with our exhibitors over the next few weeks whether we can hold an adequate event format in the summer of 2022 parallel with Techtextil and Texprocess, the respective leading international trade fairs for technical textiles and nonwovens and for the processing of textile and flexible materials.”
https://heimtextil.messefrankfurt.com/frankfurt/en.html
