What a ride it has been for all of us these past 20 months since COVID-19 arrived, disrupting lives and throwing the global travel business, the trade show industry, and for us, the travel trade show business, into chaos.
At the Travel & Adventure Shows, we decided it was time to get back to business. Our Exhibitors needed the shows to regain bookings. International Exhibitors needed the shows for education and answering travel enthusiasts' questions about when and where to travel safely. And, most importantly, our attendees wanted real information to help them book their fall and 2022 travel.
Our Dallas Show is now behind us and went well. Mask mandates were the order of the local county. We instituted show protocols to follow suit, and everyone did business, felt safe, and there haven't been any reports of health issues.
In regards to the upcoming Bay Area Travel & Adventure Show at the Santa Clara Convention Center, October 23-24, 2021:
As of this writing, Santa Clara County is mandating that all indoor events of over 1,000 people require all participants (Exhibitors, attendees, vendors and speakers) to be fully vaccinated. If they are not fully vaccinated, they must provide a negative COVID-19 antigen test taken within 72 hours of admittance.
Some good news: The Pandemic is waning.
- +88% of Santa Clara County residents have received at least their first vaccine shot.
- +83% are fully vaccinated.
- -70% - Delta Variant positive cases are down 70% since their September 2nd peak and continue to drop steeply like other areas and countries.
- -34% - COVID cases have declined over 34% nationwide since its peak on September 13th.
- -12.5% - average weekly decline in cases since peak.
- COVID-19 therapeutics are readily available, highly effective and more are on the way in the coming weeks.
- A survey of trade show attendees by ECA has show trade show attendee vaccination rates are substantially in excess of their venue community.
The Travel & Adventure Show is the first trade show to take place in the Santa Clara Convention Center since the COVID pandemic arrived. We are also the only event in the building on that weekend.
Our team was instrumental in creating the procedures and operations plans for the Vaccine Verification Process for each participant, as well as the negative test verification procedure.
NO PARTICIPANT WILL BE ALLOWED INTO THE BUILDING WITHOUT 100% VERIFICATION OF VACCINE STATUS OR NEGATIVE TEST STATUS. MASKS ARE REQUIRED AT ALL TIMES.
We will be sending each exhibitor the procedure for you and your booth staff to be verified. This will be sent under a separate email. Once you receive your exhibit badge, you will have unlimited entry and reentry to the building.
In addition to Vaccine Status Checks above, we have also implemented additional event safety enhancements.
Floorplans: to enhance social distancing we have added additional aisles and spread booth placements across the show floor to the extent that our venue allows. In most instances, each booth will have a corner or cross aisle.
Aisles: we have eliminated aisle carpeting to allow for frequent floor cleaning and sanitation.
Theaters: we have implemented paired and spaced seating to enhance social distancing at all theaters. We have removed theater carpeting to allow enhanced cleaning and sanitation.
Sanitation Stations: we have placed appropriate hand sanitation stations throughout the show floor.
Contactless Registration: we have implemented a contactless registration process with full attendee information gathering.
Venue: the Santa Clara Convention Center has achieved GBAC STAR status from the Global Bio-Risk Advisory Council. GBAC STAR Service Accreditation validates a venues' cleaning, disinfection, and infection presentation program to help its facility customers prepare, response and recover from biohazards and infectious agents, such as SARS-CoV-2.
The simple fact is COVID-19 will be with us for years to come, if not forever. The good news is ever increasing vaccination rates are very protective and have reduced the risk of a bad outcome from re-infection to statistically nil.
We are confident that the Bay Area Show will be successful and safe for all stakeholders.
We encourage you to welcome visitors to your destination and answer their questions honestly and enthusiastically. The recovery of our industry depends on all of us getting back out there. We cannot ask visitors to come to take our tours or visit our destination if we are not willing to meet them first.
If you have any questions or concerns, please reach out directly to your Customer Success Manager, Lauren Doyle, at success@travelshows.com or 203-713-1089.
We look forward to seeing you all in Santa Clara and through the Show Series next year!