The Photography Show Postponed to September Due to Coronavirus
The Photography Show, the biggest photography trade show in the UK, just announced at the last minute that it will be postponing this year’s event to September as a safety precaution in light of the coronavirus outbreak.
But yesterday, the show started emailing exhibitors informing them that plans were abruptly changing.
The show then publicly announced the decision to postpone until September:
“We are incredibly disappointed that we’ve had to take this action so close to the event opening,” the show states. “However, it became clear that the recent acceleration in Covid19 cases in the UK has led to heightened concerns for all participants and the show would be negatively impacted from all perspectives should we have proceeded.
“We understand how important the show is both from an industry and community point of view so we are pleased that we are able to postpone to September when we are hopeful that the threat of Covid19 will have significantly rescinded. Please bear with us while we make all the necessary arrangements to facilitate this move and contact all participants.”
An FAQ has been published to the show’s website to answer questions people may have.
If you already have a ticket, it will automatically be transferred to the new show date, whatever that may be. And if you aren’t able to make the new date, there will be an opportunity to get a refund.
“We will aim to keep the programme the same where possible, subject to speakers being available for the new dates,” The Photography Show says. “We also hope that the exhibitor list will remain much the same.”
Whether or not the show actually happens in September will presumably depend on whether the ongoing virus outbreak is contained by then, and the show doesn’t have a set date for when the rescheduled event will take place.
Please bear with us while we try to establish new dates. We will be in touch with all our visitors as soon as we have more information. In the meantime, we have compiled a list of FAQs to answer any concerns you may have: https://t.co/9VHyE70RjG
— The Photography Show (@ukphotoshow) March 10, 2020
Japan’s major CP+ photo trade show announced early in the outbreak last month that it was canceling this year’s gathering. Photokina, widely considered the world’s top show, has so far chosen not to cancel or postpone its show, but that seems likely to change if things continue to spread and spiral out of control.
Update on 3/11/20: The Photography Show has announced that the event will now take place at the NEC from September 19-22, 2020.
Image credits: Header illustration based on coronavirus image by U.S. Army
