The coronavirus crisis is responsible for many changes, and has spared neitherthe pet industry nor the trade fair industry. As a result, the Interzoooriginally scheduled for May 2020 had to be postponed until 1 to 4 June 2021.In connection with this, Interzoo organizer WZF (WirtschaftsgemeinschaftZoologischer Fachbetriebe GmbH) has also decided to hold the biennial event inodd-numbered years as of 2021.
“Originally, we would have celebrated the opening of Interzoo 2020 with 2,000exhibitors and almost 40,000 visitors, but due to COVID-19 we had toreschedule the event by a year. We are now very happy to be able to announce adate for Interzoo in 2021”, says WZF’s CEO Alexandra Facklamm. “In selectingthis new date, it was important for us to talk with all the parties that arecrucial to making Interzoo a success.” Although all stakeholders agree thatthe pet supply sector will face major economic challenges in the years tocome, “a positive signal provided by a successful trade fair can generate theimpulse needed to help the industry through difficult times.”
WZF and the German Pet Trade and Industry Association ZZF (ZentralverbandZoologischer Fachbetriebe e.V.) received major support from the industry withthe decision to move Interzoo to next year and also completing the transitionto holding the event in odd-numbered years. “Since the last Interzoo in 2018,companies have put a lot of effort and hard work into developing new productsthat were ready to enter the market this year. Manufacturers need a marketplatform like Interzoo in order to get the best benefit from these newdevelopments. For many companies, four years without the world’s leading fairin their sector would be too long a break. Given the quality of its visitorsand its global reach, Interzoo is ideally suited to developing new markets,executing international product rollouts and establishing new businesscontacts,” says Facklamm.
According to Katharina Engling, chairwoman of the Interzoo Advisory Committee,attending the world’s leading trade fair in the wake of a global crisis cancontribute to economic recovery for both companies and the sector as a whole.“To get quickly back onto the path to success, the specialist trade and themanufacturing industry must be given an appropriate opportunity to prepare forbusiness. As the world’s largest trade fair for pet supplies, Interzoo meetsthis requirement perfectly. The deals concluded at Interzoo are the economicfoundation for many of the businesses that exhibit here.”
The Interzoo postponed till next year will once again take place from Tuesday(1 June 2021) to Friday (4 June 2021) and will span a public holiday (severalof Germany’s federal states will celebrate Corpus Christi on 3 June 2021).This should help with the planning process for many independent specialistsuppliers intending to travel to Nuremberg as visitors. “The holiday will beimportant for our German trade fair visitors, since they will definitely wantto be on hand for their customers on normal working days following thecoronavirus crisis,” Facklamm comments. “We are therefore doubly pleased, notonly to have found a good date in an otherwise full NürnbergMesse eventcalendar, but also to have one that includes a holiday in the same way as theschedule we were accustomed to.”
Currently, trade fair organizers and venues around the world are working withthe authorities and professional organizations to develop strategies forholding future events safely and successfully in a potential context ofstricter hygiene and social distancing rules. This is something the nextInterzoo will also benefit from.
The Interzoo project team is currently working with exhibitors who are alreadyregistered on the necessary steps with regard to the postponement of theevent. Then, from 1 July 2020, exhibitors that have not yet registered forInterzoo 2021 can also book their stands via www.interzoo.com.
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