The toy industry has been looking forward to Spielwarenmesse for months, unfortunately the pandemic is not showing any signs of slowing down.
The rapid growth of the Omicron variant and the resultant increasing number of cancellations of stands has resulted in the cancellation of the fair, which was scheduled for the beginning of February in Nuremberg.
“We have fought hard to be able to hold the live event and we received strong support initially from toy markets worldwide,” says Christian Ulrich, spokesperson of the executive board at Spielwarenmesse.
Indeed, a large number of suppliers without international distribution networks appealed to the organisers even in December to continue with the fair, which is so important to international business.
However, in response to the deteriorating conditions, a large number of exhibitors out of concern for the health of their teams, cancelled their attendance. As it was no longer possible to plan ahead with any certainty while the event could be cancelled at any time by the authorities, the organisers of Spielwarenmesse had no other choice but to cancel the show.
“We regret having to make this decision and are grateful to everyone who remained committed to a physical trade fair to the very end,” adds Ulrich.
As an alternative, exhibitors and retailers can ‘meet up’ on the Spielwarenmesse Digital platform, where they still have networking opportunities and the facility to discover the latest trends, within the original timetable of the trade fair.
