FRANKFURT (Reuters): Germany’s ITB Tourism Fair has been cancelled due to the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), organisers Messe Berlin GmbH said on Friday.

The fair was due to take place next week, with around 10,000 exhibitors scheduled to attend.

It was called off following advice from Berlin’s health and economics ministries, and after its health authority asked organisers to impose stricter controls on potential visitors, Messe Berlin said.

“The health authority in Berlin-Charlottenburg dramatically increased preconditions for the fair,” it said in the Tweet.

Every visitor would have had to prove to Messe Berlin that they had not travelled from a high-risk region, and to have had no contact with people from those regions. “These preconditions could not be met by Messe Berlin,” the event organiser said.

It was the second high-profile international trade fair to be cancelled on Friday, following a decision by Swiss authorities to stop the Geneva car show.

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