Corona Virus and the result on Italian wines and trade fairs Vinitaly & ProWein
Posted on: 29-02-2020 om 16:27:34
| Karina Imschoot
Covid 19, the coronavirus, is not a common cold, but neither is the plague.
Scientists have made it clear. But the alarm level remains high. And more than the virus, also the economic system, also Italian wine & food. The damage is mainly caused by the image that is now spread through the media of Italy and then of the world, as a "dangerous" country, not safe.
Nevertheless, an attempt is being made to make progress, with important signals from the sector, such as the confirmation of Vinitaly, from 19 to 22 April. The Düsseldorf Stock Exchange is announcing in an official note that there are currently no certainties, with the announcement that the International Trade Fair for Metalworking Technologies has been postponed until a date to be set for the International Trade Fair for Metalworking Technologies, which was to take place from 11 to 13 March. First this fair was confirmed and now back no more and no certainty that the fair will continue. Let's face it, reduce one fair in one day, clean up, build the other fair in one day. With a very large number of visitor cancellations, an additional cost due to the situation, I wonder to what extent the stands or the exhibition organization will want to cough up this additional cost. The US, Uk an the countries Norway, Sweden etc and thus all Scandinavian countries have cancelled their visit to Prowein.
"We take the concerns about the coronavirus that are brought to our attention very seriously. The safety of our customers, partners, employees and neighbours is our top priority. We are in direct contact with the responsible health authorities and rely on their guidance," says Werner M. Dornscheidt, Chairman of the Executive Board of Messe Düsseldorf. Words that sound like a very high harvest are likely to postpone or cancel the world's largest wine fair. Witness the many difficulties experienced by the sector, such as business appointments being skipped, cancellations in restaurants and hotels, foreigners traveling for work and tourism to Italy and beyond, in an objectively complicated situation, in which we strive to look forward to better times. Even if the biggest damage is in the near future, the biggest damage right now is on the home front.
As demonstrated by the words of wine producers, entrepreneurs and globetrottermanager: . "I have to leave for the United States on Sunday, but I do not know if I can leave - explains Pio Boffa, at the helm of the historic Pio Cesare, a brand of Barolo - my daughter has been there a few days before events and has had no problems, but anything is possible. But for example, all appointments at ProWein with Englishmen, Americans and the like have all been cancelled from now on, and even those who had to come to Italy have cancelled everything. The last few days I've been in France and Germany, where the press got the message that we sent Italians first, and it's a disaster. Not to mention Southeast Asia, outside China: it was the only area in the world where you could think of growing our business, but now it has all stopped".
Update: in the meantime we got informed Prowein is cancelled.
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