ITB Berlin 2020 cancelled due to Coronavirus

Saturday, February 29, 2020

An official statement by ITB Berlin announced that due to Coronavirus the largest travel and tourism event in the world has been cancelled. The Federal Ministry of Health and Federal Ministry of Economics came to the conclusion that ITB Berlin be cancelled and yesterday, the responsible health authority of Charlotteburg-Wilmersdorf in Berlin imposed tighter restrictions on holding the event.

The authority required each participants to prove to Messe Berline that they were not from a designated risk area or were either in contact with a person or persons from a risk area.

For Mesee Berlin it was not possible to satisfy these requirements overall.

For weeks Messe Berlin had made it known that  a decision on holding or cancelling large-scale events would only be considered on the instruction of the relevant authorities. In order to draw the right conclusion only they have the necessary information and specialist knowledge.

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

Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Messe Berlin Wolf-Dieter Wolf mentioned that not once in the 54-year history of the event have ITB Berlin and Messe Berlin experienced a similar situation. He thanked all exhibitors and partners from all over the world who over the past few days and weeks have stood by ITB Berlin. He was looking forward to continuing the trusted relationship with the  partners in the market

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