ICCA’s Research Division is monitoring the status of all 1,065 meetings in the ICCA Association Database currently scheduled in Asia Pacific for 2020. Only 44 meetings scheduled for Asia Pacific are affected by COVID-19 (4.1%). Of these 44 meetings, 34 are postponed, 5 cancelled and 5 relocated. Outside Asia Pacific, two meetings in Europe and one in Africa are postponed. ICCA President James Rees said: “When facing uncertainty or crisis, identifying reliable and timely sources of information is critical to making responsible decisions. We have put together our COVID-19 liveblog to help global meetings industry professionals to find reliable information about the novel COVID-19 outbreak and to share meetings industry-related resources with the global ICCA community of meeting suppliers and associations.” “We believe the international meetings industry can play its part in finding a solution to the current COVID-19 outbreak. International meetings represent the best possible vehicle for addressing this and many other global issues. As an industry, we must demonstrate resilience and confidence by maintaining to the greatest extent possible our ongoing schedule of activities – and where this is not possible, by working collaboratively to develop alternatives that help maintain the exchange of information and insights that account for the benefits we believe to result from this kind of engagement.”
