According to Holtmeier, the industry recorded since March 2020 damage of more than 55 billion euros. He spoke out against a general mask requirement at trade fairs: “If at least three quarters of all people in our country are basic immunized, it is time to let everyone decide for themselves whether they want to wear a mask for personal protection or not.”
Last week, Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) and Justice Minister Marco Buschmann (FDP) presented the new corona protection concept for autumn. A mask requirement on buses, trains and planes should therefore continue to apply nationwide, as well as a mask and test requirement in hospitals and care facilities. The federal states should decide for themselves whether they also require masks in publicly accessible indoor areas.
Farther Holtmeier fears that trade fairs will migrate abroad. To date, two thirds of all the world’s leading trade fairs have taken place in Germany. “From the past two years of thicket of rules, I can only tell you that it was absolutely impossible for foreign visitors and exhibitors to understand why this rule applies here and that rule there. Our good reputation as a reliable organizer is at stake.” Competitors in Spain, Italy, France and the UK understood that. “They knew how to take advantage of the almost two-year ban on trade fairs in Germany: while the International Tourism Exchange ITB in Berlin, the world’s leading trade fair for tourism, had to be canceled for the third time in a row last March, the competing fair in Madrid took its chance at the same time – and was visited like never before .”