To our North American Customers and Partners,

What a year 2020 has been! Looking in the rear-view mirror, the start of 2020 now seems like an eternity, a distant time and place when most of us were living a normal life with vacationing, meeting friends, going out for dinner or movies, commuting to the office, and traveling to trade shows. Many of us miss all those things especially the trade shows where we used to regularly renew our personal and business relationships and grew our international business.

As the health & safety of our customers is our top priority, we and our Cologne headquarter have used the last months to rethink and retool the way we can conduct our trade shows in a safe and efficient way. As a result, new rules of engagement between visitors and exhibitors have been established. The cornerstone of the new rules is the “Coronavirus Protection Ordinance” issued by the German State of North Rhine-Westphalia in close coordination with the local authorities in Cologne. Due to Covid, some of our trade shows were held digitally only some are planned as hybrid events until we can fully resume with our physical trade shows.

In essence, the new measures provide a maximum level of safety & protection at our shows while allowing our customers to conduct face-to-face business in a professional setting. We are certain that we will soon approach a new phase where it will be safe to travel to our trade shows again. Most domestic and international Airlines are flying again, Business travel to Germany has resumed with special allowances for trade show participants only requiring proof of a negative Covid test or vaccination before arriving in Germany. Hotels, restaurants, public transportation, and the fairgrounds have been upgraded to the highest level of safety in cooperation with the local health authorities.

We know that all of our efforts towards reopening our shows again hinge on your trust in us. We, therefore, are committed to maximum transparency about the ongoing Covid situation at our venue cities. To provide greater flexibility, our HQ has also adjusted its cancellation terms allowing exhibitors of all our 2021 events to cancel free of charge up to 3 months prior to the first show day of the respective event.

Detailed information on Koelnmesse’s health and safety measures can be found under the keyword #B-SAFE4business .

We are certain that trade shows will continue to play a vital part in conducting global business! Why?

• B2B Trade shows are fundamentally different from sporting events or consumer shows with an emphasis on one on one business contacts.
• Shutdowns in many countries have created pent-up demand in many industry segments. We expect accelerated business activities at the return of our shows.
• Participants at our trade fairs have a vested interest in following safety regulations and precautionary measures to accomplish their goals.
• Trade fairs cities such as Cologne have the strong backing of the local governments to ensure the overall health of the local economy ( Restaurants, Hotels, Bars, Public Transportation etc.)
• New trends have emerged related to supply chains, consumer behavior and online communication. Manufacturers and the retail trade have a strong need to personally engage to keep up with trends.

For an updated overview or our trade shows in Cologne click on the calendar of events.

Where can I get more information about the Coronavirus?