STA, 4 March 2020 - Slovenia's biggest boat show, Internautica, which was to be held in the port of Trieste in May, has been cancelled due to the spreading of the novel coronavirus in Italy, and Europe. The event will be held in 2021, the organisers announced on Wednesday.
The decision was made in cooperation with the municipality of Trieste. The event will be held when the security and health situation returns to normal, they said.
Last year, the organisers of the international boat show, which also promotes global environmental efforts, signed a multi-year cooperation contract with the Trieste municipality to bring Internautica to the North Adriatic port. The project was backed by the regional government of Friuli Venezia Giulia.
The idea was for Internautica, which has become the most popular and environmentally friendly boat show on the Adriatic coast in the last 25 years, to finally exceed its local framework.
Internautica has been taking place in Marina Portorož for the last quarter of a century but at the end of 2018 the organisers parted ways with Marina Portorož, which last year hosted its own boat show in May.
The organisers of Internautica initially intended to move their event to Izola but later decided that it did not make sense to hold two boat shows on the Slovenian coast at the same time.
Home fair opens in Ljubljana despite COVID-19 fears
STA, 4 March 2020 - The Home construction fair kicked off in Ljubljana on Wednesday despite fears it could be called off due to the global spreading of COVID-19. Addressing the opening of the fair, outgoing Prime Minister Marjan Šarec warned against economic fallout from panic.
Iztok Bricl, the director of fairgrounds operator Gospodarsko Razstavišče, noted that Home was the company's biggest and oldest event, with its 60th anniversary coming up next year.
It features more than 500 exhibitors and has attracted more than 55,000 visitors each time in the recent years.
Bricl expressed satisfaction that the company decided to go through with the fair despite the spreading of coronavirus in the region. This was also commended by Šarec.
Meanwhile, Ljubljana Mayor Zoran Janković said that the turnout this morning indicated that visitor numbers at the show this year will surpass last year's.
To lower the risk of COVID-19 transmission, Gospodarsko Razstavišče has placed a number of hand sanitisers across the premises and increased ventilation. No COVID-19 cases have been confirmed in Slovenia so far.
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