The Dusseldorf 2021 Boot, the world’s largest indoor boat show, has been canceled.
The news was already in the air but now the confirmation has arrived. The postponement of the event, traditionally held at the end of January, to the third week of April, from the 17th to the 25th, was not enough. Wise decision: even if it had taken place, who would have been able to visit it, and how many manufacturers would have invested in exhibiting in a show that risked being desolately empty?
The first signs were when some of the main international shipyards and manufacturers expressed strong perplexity about their participation, despite the shift of dates. To date, Germany, after Great Britain, is the European country most affected by Covid-19, with almost 30,000 cases of positivity per day (data from January 20) and continuous local lockdowns that block the movement within the nation and from abroad.
At this point, as the pandemic unfolds, what future is there for physical salons in 2021?
