Light + Building, Europe’s largest lighting trade show, has been postponed until late September because of the Coronavirus (COVID-19), according to a post on the website of Messe Frankfurt, the show’s organizers. Originally scheduled for March 8 to March 13 in Frankfurt, Germany, the exhibition will now be held Sept. 27 to Oct. 2.
“Due to the increased spread of the corona virus in Europe, Messe Frankfurt decided to postpone Light + Building after intensive consultations,” said the post. “Existing visitor tickets for March 2020 will also be valid in September 2020.”
The announcement came after the Feb. 24 news that Signify, which would have reportedly been the largest exhibitor, would not be at the show. A news release at www.signify.com said, “Signify, after careful consideration, has decided to not participate in Light + Building 2020, due to the health risks posed by the Coronavirus (COVID-19).”
Eric Rondolat, CEO of Signify, said in a quote on the company’s website, “Although we were looking forward to meeting our customers and presenting our newest innovations at Light + Building, we must contribute to helping to contain the issue. The health, safety and wellbeing of our employees, customers and partners is and remains our number one priority.”
This year’s LightFair, scheduled for May 3-7 in Las Vegas, is still on at this time, but show organizers said in a post at www.lightfair.com they are watching issues with the Coronavirus very closely.
“LightFair is carefully monitoring Coronavirus (COVID-19) in preparation for its upcoming trade show and conference scheduled for May 3-7, 2020 in Las Vegas,” said the post. “The event is set to take place as planned with as little disruption as possible to programming and product. If the situation changes, we will alert our exhibitors and attendees and post updates to this page (www.lightfair.com/coronavirus-updates-and-resources).
“We will continue to assess the situation based on information available through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Southern Nevada Health District in determining the most effective precautionary measures to take on-site. We encourage you to learn more about prevention information on the CDC website.
“While we are learning of show postponements or cancellations in some industry sectors, to date this is primarily for non-U.S. events. Many U.S.-based events have experienced minimal impact from Coronavirus.”
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