Photokina 2019 is canceled, and it may actually be for the better.
Photokina is a trade fair held in Europe for the photography and imaging industries. Since its inception in 1950, it has become the largest photography trade fair. From 1966 onward, it has been held biennially in September. In 2017, the organizers decided to revert back to the original plan and turn it into an annual show.
Announcement was posted on the Photokina homepage this afternoon
Don’t sweat, though! The cancelation isn’t foreshadowing any doom or gloom. Since the scheduled May 2019 fair is only a short seven months from the event held this past September, they are canceling it to get onto an amended schedule for following years.
PIV’s CEO, Rainer Führes explains: “Photokina 2018 clearly exceeded our already optimistic expectations with groundbreaking innovations and 180,000 visitors from 127 countries.”
The organizers said: “The decision to postpone the start of the announced annual cycle by one year is intended to give all participants the opportunity to further develop the new concept for Photokina and to tap into new target groups among exhibitors and visitors in order to heighten the status of the trade fair as a global platform foar the photography and imaging industry.” Hopefully, that means they’ll be able to expand the exhibitors to include some more brands we all know, love, and most importantly, depend on.
Were you planning on attending Photokina 2019? Sound off in the comments below if you’re disappointed or excited to see the changes to come from the organizers.
Logical move. Next May is far too soon.
What on earth were they thinking anyway? Why they moved a bianual event, which everybody was good with, to an anual show, with only half a year of intermission is beyond me.
I get that invention cycles have sped up tremendously but huge trade shows like Photokina have to be budgeted, even for the big players.
I agree. Although I liked the idea of Photokina being held annually (I live just a few hours from cologne), they were already missing some big players this year.
E.g. Blackmagic was completely absent (I know they are limited to video, but nevertheless had an impressive booth 2 years ago).