Stefan Lohrberg (l.), Director Spoga+Gafa, Catja Caspary, Vice President, and Oliver Frese, Chief Operating Officer
During a digital press conference, Stefan Lohrberg (l.), Director Spoga+Gafa, Catja Caspary, Vice President, and Oliver Frese, Chief Operating Officer, informed about Koelnmesse’s plans for this year’s show in September.
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Spoga+Gafa 2020

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Koelnmesse is taking special precautions for Spoga+Gafa 2020 in order to be able to hold the trade fair safely. New exhibitors will even be taking part due to the cancellation of other events
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Koelnmesse has emphasised: Spoga+Gafa 2020 is to take place as planned, i.e. from 6 to 8 September 2020. In a video statement which the event organisers showed at an online press conference mid May, Chief Operating Officer Oliver Frese said: "It is our declared aim to open the trade fair on the planned date. The exhibitors are showing high interest in the event and due to the fact that other industry events have had to be cancelled or postponed, we are once again recording increased growth in the number of applications."
In particular, there is a growing interest in the area of lifestyle assortments, adds Stefan Lohrberg, Director Spoga+Gafa, and emphasises: "It is important for us to say that we would have preferred for the other formats to have taken place as well. The market needs the multitude of these great fairs."
At the time of the virtual trade press conference, 95 per cent of the exhibition space had already been booked. Should there be any changes to the plans for 2020 due to the coronavirus situation, the trade fair organisers want to inform their partners at the start of the second half of the year. And Koelnmesse has repeatedly assured: if Spoga+Gafa has to be postponed or cancelled due to the coronavirus, Koelnmesse will completely refund the exhibitors and visitors any payments made to Koelnmesse.
The trade fair managers repeatedly assured: "Of course, we will then abide by all of the applicable precautionary and safety measures or even exceed these with the implementation of our own measures," as Vice President Catja Caspary says. This includes, among other things, the number of visitors being checked through the admission system, tickets only being sold online and cloakrooms being free of charge. In principle, there is no problem with distancing rules for the expected 40 000 visitors on three days over an area of 250 000 m², explains Oliver Frese. In the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, trade fairs and congresses will be permitted again from 30 May 2020 with the adherence to respective requirements.
The retail trade has clarified: the international DIY and garden retail industry has a great interest in the world's leading trade fair Spoga+Gafa 2020 taking place because it provides inspiration and a platform on which innovations are shown and trends are discussed. Both the German associations BHB (DIY retail) and VDG (garden retail) as well as the Europe and world association Edra/Ghin have expressed themselves in this sense.
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