Exhibitors lose Rs1b due to cancellations

Official says exhibition industry was first sector to be affected by Covid-19

KARACHI:

Stakeholders from the exhibition industry of Pakistan have requested Prime Minister Imran Khan to save the sector and allow it to reopen across the country without any further delay.

In a statement, Badar Expo Solutions Managing Director Zohair Naseer drew the prime minister’s attention to an earlier letter and highlighted the impact of the coronavirus outbreak on Pakistan’s exhibition industry and the economy in general.

“The effect of coronavirus pandemic on Pakistan’s exhibition industry is unprecedented,” he stressed.

He added that trade fairs and business events were called off as soon as Covid-19 surfaced in the country making exhibition industry the first sector to be affected.

The situation escalated at a rapid pace until it brought activities to a complete halt, he said.

He appreciated the overall support from the government for resuming business activities and sought a coordinated approach all over Pakistan to mitigate the disastrous impact on the exhibition sector to avoid massive job losses and bankruptcy.

“We need the government’s help on an urgent basis so that business-to-business trade fairs are able to play vital role towards recovery of the economy,” he added.

He regretted that more than 300 trade fairs in Pakistan have been cancelled or postponed so far and all planned exhibitions were being rescheduled.

Many exhibitions planned to be held in Karachi, Lahore, Rawalpindi and Islamabad have been rescheduled, however, the loss of turnover has placed most companies under severe financial stress.

The companies involved in staging exhibitions as well as the firms that exhibitor source on trade fairs are suffering massively from postponements and cancellations. The business lost by exhibiting companies amounts to over Rs1 billion.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, September 13^th, 2020

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