January 2022 edition of VIV Asia cancelled
Organiser VNU has decided to cancel the edition of VIV Asia that was planned for January 2022. That was already an improvised date because of Covid-19 – but even January 2022 comes too soon for the biennial event in Bangkok, Thailand.
Normally, VIV Asia takes place in March every 2 years. The last regular edition was held in March 2019. The edition of this year was initially postponed to September this year, then to January 2022. The latest decision means that the original sequence will be picked up, i.e. that the next edition of VIV Asia will take place at the moment that it walways did, in this case on March 8-10, 2023. The venue will be in Bangkok’s Impact Challenger, halls 1-3. That is unlike the previous years, when the venue of VIV Asia was the Bangkok International Trade and Exhibition Centre (BITEC).
The event will be held in co-location with the show Meat Pro Asia, which is organised by Messe Frankfurt and VNU Asia Pacific.
Covid-19 situation in South East Asia
The reason of the rescheduling is all related to the Covid-19 situation in South East Asia. Recent developments have forced the Thai authorities to implement new strict measures, including travel restrictions. In addition, vaccination programmes in various Asian countries are not fully up and running yet.
Heiko Stutzinger is director VIV worldwide and managing director of VNU Asia Pacific and VNU Europe. In a press release, he commented, “Looking at the recent official statistics regarding the overall vaccination program in Thailand and surrounding countries, we foresee that the Covid situation will not improve fast enough to clear travel restrictions and allow such an international show as VIV Asia, with more than 65% of visitors coming from outside Thailand, to welcome the expected high number of Feed to Food professionals in the beginning of 2022.”
In addition to this, the Victam Asia was also rescheduled. It was planned to take place in January 2022 as well, but will now happen on September 7-9, 2022, also in the Impact venue, halls 9-10.
The press release also stated that on 22-24 September 2021, the V-Connect Asia Edition digital event will take place instead. This is a web-based, smartphone-supported online platform to meet, learn and make deals during current travel limitations.
Ildex exhibitions rescheduled to the 2nd half of 2022
Similarly, the Ildex organisers decided to reschedule Ildex Vietnam from its original date on March 2022 to August 3-5, 2022 at Saigon Exhibition & Convention Center (SECC) in Ho Chi Minh City.
Ildex Indonesia and Aquatica Asia are also rescheduled to 9-11 November 2022 at Hall 3-3A, Indonesia Convention Exhibition (ICE), Jakarta, Indonesia. A digital version of the show V-Connect Indonesia Edition is still scheduled to take place from 24-25 November 2021.
