Just 10 days ago, we had to bring you the sad news that the INTERMOT show in Cologna, Germany would not be held in 2020, with the show’s organizers looking to 2022 to resume the trade show’s biannual schedule.
With INTERMOT arguably the second-most important trade show for the motorcycle industry, eyes then moved to Milan, to see if the EICMA trade show would follow suit, and today we have our answer.
Because of COVID-19 concerns, and perhaps due to a mild mutiny from participating brands, the EICMA trade show in Italy has announced that this year’s edition would be canceled, with aims to resume in 2021.
Managing Director Paolo Magri spoke of the decision on the trade show’s website, saying that “the decision has been taken with and for the whole sector.”
“The value and international leadership of our exhibition-event have [sic] convinced us not to wager on the evolution of the health situation linked to the Covid-19 emergency and, above all, to listen to and protect the whole of the two-wheeler industry which, with Fiera Milano primarily and our partners, continues to see in EICMA a successful model and its most important opportunity for b2c and b2b at shows.”
Mr. Magri continued by saying that the “responsibility has been imposed on us and makes us act on a wide scale in the interest of the exhibitors and our visitors, postponing the 2020 show with a solid convergence of intentions.”
Anyone who has attended the EICMA show in Milan (and every motorcyclist owes it to themselves to make this pilgrimage at least once in their two-wheeled life) will know that the show is often packed to the elbows with tradespeople and consumers.
Social distancing in the trade show’s gigantic halls would be a near-impossible undertaking, and with the hundreds of thousands of people who attend the week-long event, the chances of transmitting the coronavirus were always going to be exceptionally high. As such, today’s news should surprise few people.
The big question going forward though is whether trade shows like EICMA will still be relevant in a post-COVID-19 world.
Arguably, their role in the industry was already under question, and now with sales cycle set to go with any trade shows operating, the industry may realize better avenues for promoting their new products.
Source: EICMA
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