Major companies have been making big moves by pulling out of popular conventions, tradeshows, and conferences due to concerns about the coronavirus as it continues to threaten airlines and other forms of travel.
One of the most noticeable shows feeling it is Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, where a handful of companies have been pulling out or cutting back on their attendance. The show is one of the biggest for shows surrounding the mobile industries where some of the latest smartphones are announced to the world.
Multiple companies have announced that they were no longer attending the show due to the fear of placing any of their executive members on long flights anywhere. Some of these companies include LG, NVIDIA, Ericsson/Sony, Intel, AT&T, Cisco, and Amazon (who was the latest to announce their exit from the show). Samsung and ZTE have also announced that they will be dialing things back for the show, which could lead to them backing out completely like the rest.
Intel also just recently backed out of one of their own shows in Las Vegas that was coming next week, hoping to reschedule for a later date.
Most of the companies have expressed that they will attend another or hold their own event in the future once things have calmed down and a solution to the coronavirus has been found. Until then, they just don’t want to chance sending their leaders into the air where they face any risk of infection.
Between this and the many restrictions at various airports around the world, traffic to major events like these are going to see a huge drop in attendance for both companies and guests. One of the many affects the new virus has been having on the tech world (not to mention the rest of the world and economy).
(Updated for additional companies that have pulled out)
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