After taking into consideration all of the pressing circumstances, the organizer of ParkZoo International Pet Industry Fair decided to cancel this year’s event, which was scheduled to 7–9th of September. The 10th annual exhibition will open its doors in 2021.
Less then two months before the event it is still unclear whether the venue – Moscow’s Sokolniki exhibition center – will be open for mass exhibition events on time.
ARTIS Expo, the organizing committee of ParkZoo, was constantly monitoring the situation. It considered other venues, but it was not possible to find a convenient and safe option. Safety, health and common sense are the priorities that guide ARTIS Expo. Even though the situation with coronavirus has improved in Moscow according to official statistics, waves of the virus are covering other regions of the country again and again. It goes without saying that the exhibition must not put its participants and visitors at risk.
“We could no longer keep people in uncertainty,” says Natalia Morgunova, the Director of ParkZoo. “Organization of an exhibition is a complex, systematic process. We need to order stand constructions in advance, put together the program, organize people and logistics, since we have a lot of regional and international participants. The pet industry community was nervous, but there was nothing we could do to calm them down. In addition, it became clear that in the case of exhibitions there will be strict limits on the number of visitors and employees at the stands, as well as the arrangement of tables and chairs. It will be forbidden to treat guests with any drinks. Sanitizers, masks and other attributes of the new reality will be mandatory. There were obvious concerns about attendance: the epidemic is ravaging in the regions of Russia. Therefore, many potential guests questioned their attendance. Besides, we really hoped that the borders would open. ParkZoo has an international status. But now we understand that our foreign participants and visitors from abroad will not be able to come.
The purpose of the industry exhibition is to develop the industry, to network, to find new contracts, to create a platform and atmosphere fostering the exchange of information, experience and energy for a large number of colleagues. But the circumstances do not allow us to hold the full-fledged exhibition and fulfill its mission.
We have made the only responsible and sensible decision to date. We have to postpone the exhibition to 2021. We will contact all participants in the near future and discuss further actions. And we will celebrate together the 10th anniversary of our industry exhibition next year. I’m sure!”
ParkZoo 2021 will take place from 22 until 24th of September in Moscow, Russia.
