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INDONESIA through Tourism & Creative Economy Ministry withdrew its delegation who was on a trip to Germany for the Berlin ITB event after the world’s largest tourism exchange was officially canceled due to concerns over the corona outbreak.
According to the Head of the Communication Bureau of the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy, Agustini Rahayu in Jakarta said that we reluctantly had to withdraw the delegation who was on his way to Berlin after the organizing committee of the Berlin ITB officially decided the event was canceled.
Previously, the Ministry of Tourism planned to send delegations in two stages namely the first stage on Friday (28/2) and Sunday (1/3) for the event which was planned to be held on March 4-8, 2010. The first delegation assigned to prepare the Indonesian Pavilion in the world’s largest tourism exchange has departed.
“They just arrived in Istanbul, Turkey. The plan, the Ministry of Tourism will withdraw and fly the team to the country. The cancellation that occurred only five days before the event was held for the first time in the history of the ITB Berlin,” Agustini Rahayu said.
Agustini Rahayu added, whereas in the event which was attended by 180,000 exhibitors from more than 180 countries, Indonesia had collaborated with local contractors to design and build an Indonesian Pavilion with an interesting concept. But unfortunately, the nearly half-finished pavilion was not used because the event was canceled.
“The decision was inevitable and even other countries such as Thailand had earlier decided to withdraw their participation in the event for security reasons for their delegation. Previously, the organizing committee of ITB Berlin was able to get pressure from many parties in the country because it was determined to continue to hold the event which was predicted to be attended by 160,000 people from various parts of the world. The committee is considered to put the population of Berlin in danger because of the potential contracting of the corona virus,” she said.
The committee asserted it would continue to hold the event by applying strict entry rules from the initial arrival of participants and visitors even since arrival at the airport. A number of strict requirements from countries with high corona infection rates among the population have also been banned from participating.
But then on Friday (28/2) night the cancellation decision was taken. The Federal Ministry of Health and the German Federal Ministry of Economy have officially stated their opinion that the ITB Berlin was canceled. On Friday night local time at around 18:27 local time, the health authority in charge of the Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf district in Berlin imposed tighter restrictions on organizing the event.
Among the requirements, the authority stipulates that each participant needs to prove to Messe Berlin that they are not from a designated risk area or have never been in contact with someone or people from the risk area. But Messe Berlin cannot possibly fulfill these requirements as a whole.
Messe Berlin announced for weeks that the decision to hold or cancel a large-scale event would only be made based on recommendations or instructions from the relevant specialist authorities. Only those who have specialist information and knowledge are needed to draw the right conclusions.
Meanwhile Christian Göke, CEO of Messe Berlin GmbH, said later that with more than 10,000 exhibitors from more than 180 countries, ITB Berlin is very important for the world tourism industry.
“We take responsibility for the health and safety of our visitors, exhibitors and employees very seriously. With a heavy heart we must now make peace with the cancellation of ITB Berlin 2020,” he said.
Chairperson of the Messe Berlin Supervisory Board Wolf-Dieter Wolf said that in 54 years the history of the ITB Berlin event and Messe Berlin had experienced the same situation.
“We would like to thank all exhibitors and partners from all over the world who for the last few days and weeks stood at ITB Berlin. We look forward to continuing a trusted relationship with our partners in the market,” he said. [antaranews/photo special]
