The French property conference, MIPIM, has been postponed over growing concerns surrounding the Coronavirus (COVID-19)

The annual show, which takes
place in Cannes, South France, has been delayed from March 10-13 to June 2-5.

Chief executive of event
organiser Reed MIDEM, Paul Zilk, said: “The well-being of our clients and staff
is our priority. Given the evolving context, the best course of action is to
postpone MIPIM to June.

“We are grateful to our clients
for their support and constructive input during this challenging period, and we
look forward to talking with them in the coming days about MIPIM in June.”

The rescheduling comes after
several of the high-profile attendees, including property agent Knight Frank,
dropped out.

In a tweet on Friday, Morrow +
Lorraine Architects announced their decision to cancel based on “exacerbating
what is already a global emergency by making non-essential international
travel.”

Marketing Manchester, a
promotional agency that was set to run a stand at the conference said: “Whilst
we are undoubtably disappointed about the postponement of MIPIM, owing to the
huge amount of work and planning that we always put in to make the Manchester
Pavilion (their event space) an informative and effective business
destination…it is absolutely the right decision given how things currently
stand.”

Questions regarding the effectiveness of the delay and the financial implications of attendees have been brought to light, however.

Chris Boyce, of the architect
company Assorted Skills + Talents said: “While I’m sure cancelling MIPIM is a
good things in terms of the inevitable spread of a virus which can kill…each
day hundreds of thousands of people pass through every one of Europe’s
airports, and smear their bodily fluids on plane seats, loos, door handles and
café tables, spreading that self-same virus, among other things.”

“The impact of cancelling this
late on smaller firms who have committed non-refundable hard-earned money on
MIPIM week, or on the vendors and restaurants of Cannes, will be considerable.”

Not long after the announcement,
the French government announced a ban on indoor meetings of over 5000 people,
suggesting the event may have been forced to postpone regardless of the
organisers’ decision as it typically attracts tens of thousands of attendees;
from senior contractors to local authorities.

Cases of coronavirus in Europe
have risen sharply in recent weeks; with 1700 positive cases in Italy alone.

On the 28^th February,
the mayor of Nice confirmed a 23-year-old fashion student had tested positive
for the virus, bringing the number of confirmed cases in France to 38.

In the UK, the total number of
cases has risen significantly in recent days, from 16 to 35.