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This week, representatives from Koelnmesse, the organization behind Photokina 2020, sat down for a press conference in Cologne, Germany to address, amongst other details, concerns surrounding whether or not Photokina 2020 will take place as cases of COVID-19 continues to spread across the globe.
At the press conference, Koelnmesse Vice President, Christoph Werner, said ‘At this time, there is no reason to halt a large-scale event like [Photokina 2020],’ according to translated text from DC Watch. This statement was made even after consulting with the World Health Organization (WHO), the German Federal Ministry of Health and local authorities, according to Werner.
‘At this time, there is no reason to halt a large-scale event like [Photokina 2020]’
Kai Hillebrand, Chairman of the German Association of Photography, further elaborated at the press conference, saying ‘As long as the health authorities do not announce that trade fairs should be stopped in Europe, [the decision to participate] will be at the discretion of the exhibitors.’
In mid-September, well before the rise of the COVID-19 virus, Leica, Nikon and Olympus were confirmed to have dropped out of the tradeshow. Three months later, on December 6, Photokina confirmed Canon, Panasonic and Sony would be present for the 2020 event. No more than ten days later it was confirmed by PetaPixel that Fujifilm, too, would be absent from the show.
Between the departure of four major brands and the ongoing Coronavirus concerns, it doesn’t look promising for the Photokina 2020, despite being three months out. That said, until further notice, it seems as though everything is still set to go according to schedule, even as WHO raises the global risk of COVID-19 from ‘high’ to ‘very high’
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