And then there was one. Following news that the New York Fair has been cancelled, today it’s been announced that the upcoming Spielwarenmesse German Toy Fair 2022 has also been cancelled. The physical event was due to take place early next month and will now become a digital event, due to rising COVID cases and exhibitors withdrawing from the event. For LEGO fans the German Toy Fair was often the first chance to get details of upcoming sets, before then getting images from New York. As it currently stands the London Toy Fair is still going ahead but in terms of LEGO coverage, photos and even notes on upcoming sets are never allowed to be shared. So of the three major Toy Fair events, only one is still happening.
Cancellation of the physical Spielwarenmesse 2022
The toy industry has been looking forward to the world’s leading event for the sector at the beginning of February. The rapid growth of the Omicron variant in recent days, however, and the resultant increasing number of cancellations to stands, has left the organiser, Spielwarenmesse eG, with no alternative – with a heavy heart it has to cancel Spielwarenmesse 2022 in Nuremberg. As an alternative, exhibitors, specialist retailers and media representatives can meet up on the Spielwarenmesse Digital platform.
“We have fought hard to be able to hold the live event and we received strong support initially from toy markets worldwide,” says Christian Ulrich, Spokesperson of the Executive Board at Spielwarenmesse eG. A large number of suppliers without international distribution networks appealed to the organisers even in December to continue with the fair, which is so important to international business.
In the last few days, conditions have been deteriorating. Due to the rapid growth of the Omicron variant, the situation with the pandemic is now markedly different. In response to this a large number of exhibitors, out of concern for the health of their teams, cancelled their stands. The Spielwarenmesse, the leading global industry event, thus no longer looked capable of providing its customary broad overview of the international toy market. A further complication was that it was no longer possible to plan ahead with any certainty because it was possible at any time that the event could be cancelled by the authorities.
“We regret having to make this decision and are grateful to everyone who remained committed to a physical trade fair to the very end,” commented Christian Ulrich. A multifunctional platform is available both for exhibitors and for visitors: thanks to Spielwarenmesse Digital, they still have networking opportunities and the facility to discover the latest trends, within the original timetable of the trade fair.
