Confirmed: Olympus Officially Pulls Out of PhotoPlus 2020

The PhotoPlus Expo in New York City won’t take place until late October, but companies are already deciding whether or not to commit to going. First up: Olympus, who has officially pulled out of this year’s show because of the ongoing pandemic.

The news broke through PhotoRumors, who first shared a message that was sent out to Olympus’ customers and media partners, with an official news release to follow.

“With the global outbreak of the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19), and the increased risk to those in close quarters and to those who travel, Olympus has made the difficult decision not to attend PhotoPlus 2020, taking place October 24-26, in New York City,” reads the statement. “The health and well-being of our employees, customers and communities is a top priority. Therefore, we have decided to undertake these precautionary measures in the interest of keeping our staff and customers safe in the midst of the pandemic.”

You can read the full statement below:

Dear Valued Customers and Partners,
With the global outbreak of the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19), and the increased risk to those in close quarters and to those who travel, we regret to inform you that we have made the difficult decision not to attend PhotoPlus 2020, taking place October 24-26 [sic], in New York City.

The health and well-being of our employees, customers and communities is a top priority. Therefore, we have decided to undertake these precautionary measures in the interest of keeping our staff and customers safe in the midst of the pandemic.

We appreciate your understanding and we hope to see everyone at later events and shows!

Olympus officially confirmed the news to us moment ago. We’ve also reached out to media relations at various other camera companies to see if they, too, have chosen to sit this one out.

Interestingly, the statement actually misstates the dates of the expo… which are October 22 – 24 this year. Last year‘s PhotoPlus was the 24th through the 26th, but it appears this was just a simple typo. PhotoPlus only officially announced the dates of the 2020 show on June 1st:

No doubt many in the industry were and are hoping that an expo like PhotoPlus could safely be held by the end of October, but this might not be a realistic assessment. Either way, if Olympus represents the first official exit, it won’t take many more companies pulling out before Emerald Expositions is forced to pull the plug on the whole thing.

Updated 6/17 at 8:15PM ET: This post has been updated to reflect the confirmation we received from Olympus.

Image credits: Header image by Goh Rhy Yan, CC0