Against the background of the worsening pandemic situation in Germany over the past two weeks and associated restrictions, Heimtextil, scheduled to take place in the second week of January, has been cancelled.

Messe Frankfurt is working with the industry to determine whether and in what form a new offering in the summer of 2022 can be organised to run parallel to the Techtextil/Texprocess trade fairs.

Later events such as Ambiente, Christmasworld, Creativeworld, Paperworld and Frankfurt Fashion Week are still scheduled to go agead at the present time.

Due to unforeseeable dynamics and the extreme escalation of the pandemic situation in Germany within a very short period of time, including the decisions taken at the Conference of Minister Presidents on Hanuary 2nd, the date of Heimtextil right at the beginning of the year, in the second week of January, cannot be kept.

Heimtextil as an international trade fair has always kicked off the spring trade fair season and is the first major international trade fair in Germany directly after Christmas and New Year with exhibitors and visitors from over 135 countries.

The exponential increase in the number of infections in a very short period of time and the accompanying multitude of developments and resolutions that are clearly outside the realm of influence of the organiser have led to a significant deterioration in the general conditions and necessary requirements for holding Heimtextil at this early stage. These developments include in particular the classification of Germany as a high-risk area and the associated travel warnings, international and intercontinental travel restrictions in India, Japan, the United States and Great Britain, as well as the quarantine obligation and “2G” (only with vaccinated and recovered status) requirements without recognition of the WHO vaccine list in Germany.

Equally important are the steadily rising infection figures and the accompanying urgent appeal, including by the Robert Koch Institute, to reduce contact to a minimum and to cancel all major events.

A large number of the exhibiting and visiting companies at Heimtextil are currently reacting to this with travel and trade fair attendance bans out of an obligation of concern towards their employees. The global willingness to travel is continuing to fall rapidly.

www.heimtextil.messefrankfurt.com