ITB China Postponed Over Coronavirus

ITB China has been postponed due to the ongoing coronavirus outbreak, according to a statement from the event’s organizers. New dates for the event, which was originally scheduled for May 13 – 15 at the Shanghai World Expo Exhibition and Convention Center, will be announced later. 

“The decision is based on the current risk evaluation of the COVID19 epidemic by local and global authorities,” the event’s organizers said in a written statement. “According to the regular report and COVID-19 prevention notification released by the National Health Commission of the People’s Republic of China recently, the COVID-19 situation in China continues to be challenging and developments in the following months are very hard to foresee at this stage.”

ITB China is a new travel trade show exclusively focused on the Chinese travel market. Hosted by ITB Global, which also runs the travel trade shows ITB Berlin, ITB Asia and ITB India, ITB China had been expected to attract 800 hosted buyers to the three-day event. 

ITB China participants can direct queries to [email protected]

Hotel Updates

Hotels have also been waiving cancellations fees due to the virus. 

Marriott International has extended the date that its waiving cancellation fees for its hotels in Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan through March 15, 2020. The company's luxury brands include St. Regis, The Luxury Collection, W Hotels, The Ritz-Carlton, Ritz-Carlton Reserve, Bulgari Hotels & Resorts, EDITION and JW Marriott.

Hyatt had previously announced that it’s waiving cancellation fees through February 29, 2020 for all Greater China guests with reservations at Hyatt hotels globally and all guests with reservations at Hyatt hotels in Greater China.

Additionally, 

World of Hyatt is offering members residing in the Asia Pacific region a series of tier status and benefits extensions, including:

  • Qualifying World of Hyatt DiscoveristExplorist and Globalist members will now have a new tier expiration of February 28, 2022 – rather than February 28, 2021 – to maintain their elite tier status and benefits
  • Currently valid Suite Upgrade Awards, Club Access Awards and Free Night Awards that expire in 2020 for qualifying members will be extended through December 31, 2021

On a call last week Hilton CEO Chris Nassetta said 150 of the brand’s hotels have been closed in China. He added, based on the industry’s experience with the SARS outbreak in 2003, he expects “escalation and impact from the outbreak” to continue for three to six months. Then, since “these things don’t turn around typically overnight, another three to six months on recovery. So essentially, a six- to 12-month period of time.”

World Health Organization Update

There are currently over 73,300 cases of the coronavirus, officially named COVID-19, in 26 countries worldwide, according to the latest update from the World Health Organization (WHO). There have been 1,870 people killed by the illness thus far, three of them outside of China. 

Pictured: The opening ceremony from ITB China 2019. 

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