The shows must go on

It's rare for trade fairs to cause as much discussion as they are doing in this coronavirus year 2020: also in the DIY and garden industry. For many years, trade fairs had fought off the opinion, which was also often put into action, that they had become increasingly redundant in their previous form. Yet they are now being practically yearned for by many, now that they are having to be cancelled or postponed by the dozen. Business professionals are people too: they long for face-to-face exchanges and they know that business is made with people.
Against this backdrop, the statement by the Messe Frankfurt at the end of September stating that up to and including March, there will be no physical trade fairs on their premises in Frankfurt am Main in Germany, caused quite a bit of unrest. The reason: rising infection rates and the international state but also in-house, travel restrictions. Looking at the current situation at the editorial deadline of this edition at the end of October, this assessment doesn't seem to be unfounded, because since the decision in Frankfurt, the infection rates in Europe have risen again considerably.
A whole number of events, which are relevant for the DIY and garden industry and are seen as international leading trade fairs, are affected by the cancellations. For example Christmasworld will not be bringing seasonal cheer to the Frankfurt trade fair halls four weeks after Christmas Eve like it normally does, but is instead being transformed, together with Paperworld and Ambiente, into the "International Consumer Goods Show - Special Edition" for one time only from 17 to 20 April 2021. This physical event will be extended with digital offers from Consumer Goods Digital Days. Also available here will be the purely digital offers from Creativeworld, which is being deferred as physical meeting place in 2021.
Heimtextil 2021, which is being postponed from January to 4 to 7 May 2021, is also affected. Finally, the sanitary trade fair ISH will only be taking place in 2021 as a purely digital event.
Somewhat unusually, Koelnmesse has seen itself compelled to comment on its colleagues' decision. "The timing of the Frankfurt decision is surprising, particularly because the trade fair market is also recovering in Germany at the moment," Gerald Böse, chairman of the executive board, is quoted as saying in a press release. "In Cologne, we are of course holding tight to our plans to hold trade fairs on our premises again soon."
Yet those in Frankfurt…