SXSW 2020 is cancelled. South by Southwest is the biggest show we (as TenLinks or as engineering.com) have ever attended. In 2018, 160K attended. Officially, it has been delayed "delayed" past it's March date until who knows when, another victim of the Coronavirus. As late as last week, SXSW planners were bravely saying the show must go on, but on Friday, the city of Austin cancelled it.
The economic effect of cancelling such a big event will be felt by downtown businesses, to put it mildly. Most Austin natives know to avoid the downtown during the music/movie/tech festival but the convention facilities, hotels, bars and restaurants count on the out-of-town revelers to pump in millions of dollars. A 34 year old show, last year's SXSW set a record when it brought an estimated $356 million.
The shock waves from this big an event being cancelled is bound to add pressure on smaller events. Look for AIA to cancel its annual gathering of architects next – or have its host city do it for for them. AIA hosts over 20,000 architects a year. This year it is planned for May in Los Angeles.
Until the Coronavirus panic abates, event owners who may not have wanted to take the losses of cancelling an event, same as convention facilities, may be forced to do so by pressure from the cities they are in. The natives of those cities do not want to have disease carriers visit. And as much as city officials will hate to listen to complaints from local businesses who cater to conventioneers, they will most certainly not want their city to be the one the Coronavirus bursts out from to infect the rest of the country.
More on Coronavirus is Killing Conferences at engineering.com
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