Scandinavia's design sector faces "total annihilation" after the February 2021 edition of Stockholm Furniture & Light Fair, Scandinavia's most important design show, was cancelled due to coronavirus.
Formex, the home and interiors fair that takes place in Stockholm each January, has also been scrapped. Both events will next take place in 2022.
Situation "extremely precarious"
Organiser Stockholmsmässan said it had been "forced" to cancel the fairs and warned: "This will have severe consequences, not least for all affected exhibitors, but also for the Stockholm region which, with the non-arrival of visitors, will lose out on major revenues."
"We find ourselves in an incredibly worrying situation which is common to the entire conference and trade fair industry and which will have consequences for all of the sectors for which our events are important," said Christian Clemens, CEO of Stockholmsmässan.
Clemens described the situation as "extremely precarious" for the region's events sector.
"Naturally, we understand the prevailing situation and the fact that all of us have a responsibility for reducing the spread of the virus," he said. "At the same time, we are in an extremely precarious situation."
"After almost one year of being unable to trade, we have been forced to carry out major cost-saving programmes which have resulted in two large bouts of downsizing," he added.
"What...