Fespa, the global federation of national Associations for the screen printing, digital printing and textile printing has announced to postpone its 2021 Global Print Expo, planned for March 2021, as well as the co-located European Sign Expo to October 12 to 15, 2021. The events will be held at the same venue, the RAI exhibition centre in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. According to a press release, the move reflects ongoing uncertainty over Corona-related travel restrictions and visitor quarantine arrangements in The Netherlands, and the risk that these could continue to affect exhibitors and visitors through early 2021.
The organizers said the move to October has strong support from the exhibitor base, who understand the clear rationale of addressing the risk that exhibitor personnel and visitors may still be unable to travel freely into Amsterdam in Spring 2021. “The decision to push the event back by seven months doesn’t dent our exhibitors’ enthusiasm for a live Fespa exhibition as the engine for business recovery”, said Neil Felton, CEO of Fespa. ”Nor does it reflect any concerns about delivering a Covid-secure event. Rigorous health and safety protocols are in place with the RAI, and we’re confident of protecting our exhibitors and visitors to the best of our professional ability.”
“However, the situation regarding cross-border travel into The Netherlands is uncertain at this point”, Felton added. ”Since our exhibitors are now at the point of having to make detailed logistical plans and commit further costs to be at our events, we believe that the right step is to move to our October 2021 contingency dates, enabling us and our participants to plan with greater confidence.”
Fespa said the majority of Global Print Expo and European Sign Expo exhibitors will simply transfer their contracts to the alternative dates, and several suppliers whose company policies precluded them from participating in March 2021 have indicated that they would be keen to exhibit at a Fall event.
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