Trade fairs / boot Düsseldorf: +++ Breaking News: boot Düsseldorf cancelled again! +++

The decisions taken before Christmas at the federal-state conference to contain the coronavirus pandemic and the implementation of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia's Corona Ordinance make an international trade fair like boot impossible. There were already signs of this. Now it is a certainty. As the state government has just announced, boot will once again not take place in January 2022.

For many water sports enthusiasts who were considering a visit or had even already reserved tickets, this ends weeks of waiting. Exhibitors who had booked stands at the Düsseldorf exhibition centre and had not yet cancelled them now also have planning security.

For quite a few of them, however, the news will come too late, as they have already set yachts on their way or ordered binding transport. Nevertheless, stand fees and tickets that have already been paid will probably be refunded; this is one of the reasons why the federal and state governments recently extended the hardship aid for trade fairs and exhibitions.

The cancellation was met with disappointment by the water sports industry, but also in part with relief. Many manufacturers had already urged boot to be postponed until 2023 in November because the infection rate seemed too risky, not least in Germany. At the latest with the emergence of the highly infectious Omikron variant, the pressure on the trade fair organisers grew, but they remained undeterred in their decision to hold the event.

The long-standing close and trusting relationship between many exhibitors and the trade fair organisers was noticeably damaged as a result; some shipyards saw their future involvement in Düsseldorf fundamentally called into question. The cancellation ordered by the government now offers the opportunity to put the weeks of tug-of-war and the resulting irritation behind us.

A survey launched yesterday by YACHT online showed that large sections of water sports enthusiasts also considered the trade fair to be irresponsible. According to the survey, well over two thirds of participants thought that cancelling boot was the most sensible solution.