Just when it looked like a bad year for business travel couldn't get any worse, along comes swine flu, and even the most determined of travellers is going to think again.
Chemical conference and exhibition organisers must be quaking in their shoes as commercial and health concerns combine in a "perfect storm" of factors to discourage longhaul travel to mass networking events.
The downturn in attendance at events which has been evident since the fourth quarter of 2008 is now clear for all to see in Monday's plunging share prices for airlines and travel companies. Deutsche Bank analysts also sounded a note of caution on exhibition companies, like ICIS's own fellow Reed Elsevier company, Reed Exhibitions, noting that, "During Sars, exhibitors and delegates both pulled out of events."
So far, we've seen lower attendance numbers and "co-locating" of chemical events, but now the prospect of postponement or cancellation is becoming more of a reality.
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