TTGmice's weekly round-up of MICE developments outside of Asia-Pacific.
UFI European Conference cancelled for 2020
UFI has cancelled the UFI European Conference, which was due to take place from June 3-5, 2020 at the Swedish Exhibition & Congress Centre in Gothenburg.
Registration fees for industry professionals who have already registered for both events will be reimbursed. The UFI team will reach out to all participants and partners.
UFI also announced that the next European Conference will take place from May 5-7, 2021 in Poznan, Poland, hosted by Grupa MTP in their centenary year.
“We are sorry not to be joining our colleagues in Gothenburg in June, however we are happy nonetheless to be confirmed as the hosts of next year’s UFI European Conference. Founded in 1921, next year marks 100 years of organising trade fairs, a very important milestone for our company and the Polish exhibition industry. Please join us in Poznan to celebrate together in style,” said Tomasz Kobierski, chairman of the board of Grupa MTP.
CTICC and Ladles of Love join forces to feed the city
The Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC) has partnered with Ladles of Love, a non-profit organisation which aims to help those who do not have access to food during the pandemic.
Ladles of Love is a soup kitchen and a feeding scheme that helps vulnerable people within Cape Town. In under a month, the organisation has increased its cooked meal production by 1,000 per cent from 200 meals per day to over 2,000 meals per day.
As such, the CTICC has volunteered the use of an exhibition hall and a kitchen as a temporary headquarters.
Founder of Ladles of Love, Danny Diliberto, said: “This sudden high demand has stretched our organisation at a logistical level, seeing us completely outgrow our current headquarters. We are immensely grateful to the CTICC for coming to the rescue. The centre has offered us more than 1,500m2 of space to serve as Ladles of Love’s temporary logistics headquarters from April 27 to June 30, 2020.”
UK events industry eyes September as turning point
The UK events industry believes that September 2020 is expected to be the most significant month when it comes to post-Covid-19 recovery, as it forecasts a rise in both enquiry and booking levels, according to a new survey released today.
The Business Events Sentiment Survey, created by communications agency davies tanner, in partnership with the Business Visits & Events Partnership (BVEP), received responses from 556 business events professionals across the UK.
In the survey, 38 per cent of respondents stated September 2020 as the primary month when they expect to see both enquiries and bookings begin to increase, though some believe this will happen sooner, with 12 per cent indicating July as the beginning of the recovery period. A further 10 per cent believe this will be August, with 13 cent indicating this will begin in October.
In terms of industry-wide recovery, respondents believe that the impact of Covid-19 on the business events industry will be longer-lasting. Half of the respondents believe that the industry as a whole will not return to any form of normality for at least 12 months, with only 27 per cent believing that this could be achieved within none to 12 months.
The Business Events Sentiment survey was completed by buyers (corporate planners, associations and agencies), venues and suppliers between April 6-14, prior to the further lockdown measures introduced on April 16th.
To download a free copy of the report, please click here.
