Tiedotteet

Asta Fair and Alihankinta Subcontracting Trade Fair to be held in Tampere –The Horses Fair postponed

Tampere Trade Fairs Group's autumn events will be launched at Tampere Exhibition and Sports Centre in September. The first consumer fair, Asta Fair for construction and living, will take place on September 3–5, 2021. Trade fairs will be launched by Alihankinta Subcontracting Trade Fair for industry professionals on September 21–23, 2021. However, the Horses Fair that was scheduled for mid-September (September 11–12, 2021) is postponed to next spring. Autumn events will be organised with strict adherence to all current restrictions to ensure health security. Masks will be mandatory in the September events.
 
–In September, we will organise the Asta Fair for construction and living and the Alihankinta Subcontracting Trade Fair, which is Finland's leading industrial event.However, the Horses Fair that was planned to take place in mid-September is postponed to next spring. The difference between these trade fairs is that, for the Horses Fair, the programme and the arena play an essential role. Visitors spend long periods of time in the stand, watching shows and contests. With the current safety distance guidelines, our capacity of 3,000 spectators does not permit all visitors to see the full show and engage in a positive trade fair experience. In traditional trade fairs, visitors move from one section to another, circulating between well-ventilated halls, which enables Asta and Alihankinta to comply with the safety regulations in force. People's behaviour at a trade fair is comparable to that ata supermarket. Trade fairs, however, permit an even more efficient control of safety distances as well as prevention of queues and congestion by the staff, says Hannu Vähätalo, CEO of Tampere Trade Fairs Group.
 
–We have been cooperating closely with the authorities during the preparation stage. We have been having conversations with the authorities (the COVID-19 task force of Pirkanmaa, regional state administrative agency for Western and Inland Finland, and the police) to ensure the conformity of safety plans for our September events and the compliance with all restrictions in force. All of these authorities have shown a green light for our upcoming trade fairs and deemed our preparations relevant for the purpose. We are also counting on our customers to be responsible and only attend events when healthy, vaccinated, tested, or have already had COVID-19. As a responsible organiser of events, we are fully committed to ensuring a health-secure implementation of the trade fairs, Vähätalo continues.
 
Any tickets purchased for the Horses Fair will be valid for the event held next spring. Exhibitor contracts will also be automatically passed on to the next event, with no action required of the exhibitor companies at this point.
 
Health security takes priority at trade fairs –mandatory masks, safety distances, and a high level of hygiene
 
Organising safe events is of paramount importance for Tampere Trade Fairs. All events are organised in compliance with the guidelines, restrictions, and health security procedures of the regional state administrative agency (AVI) and THL. The approval granted by the authorities for September events enables the trade fair company to organise the trade fairs with health security arrangements and inadherence to restrictions. At the recommendation of the regional COVID-19 task force, masks were made mandatory for the fairs. In addition, the large, well-ventilated and wide-passage event halls permit keeping a safety distance of two metres. For now, the two-metre safety distance mandated by AVIs will remain inforce until August 29, 2021. The visitor limit for the three-day Asta Fair is 4,000 visitors per day and the limit for the three-day Alihankinta Trade Fair is 6,000 visitors per day.
 
–The COVID-19 task force has reminded us that a close contact is defined as a stay of over 15 minutes at a distance less than two metres from other people, which means that just moving around and casually passing by other visitors on trade fair hallways does not qualify as close contact. The safety distance mandated by AVIs does not concern workplaces or working, and the exhibitor companies areatwork at the trade fair. This means that a two-metre distance between employees is not necessary but sufficient safety distances should nevertheless be kept. Mandatory masks also play a part in enabling safe encounters at the event. We also emphasise the importance of good hygiene, be it for hand-washing, using hand sanitiser, coughing etiquette, or disinfected spaces. However, rule number one is to only attend the fair if you have no symptoms at all, Vähätalo points out.
 
COVID GUIDELINES: Safety guidelines will be updated on event-specific websites.
 
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: www.asta.fi, www.alihankinta.fi, www.hevosmessut.fi
Tampere Trade Fairs Group, www.tampereenmessut.fi
Hannu Vähätalo, CEO, tel. +358 (0)500 620 806, hannu.vahatalo(a)tampereenmessut.fi
Tanja Järvensivu, Marketing and Communications Director, tel. +358 (0)50 536 8133, tanja.jarvensivu(a)tampereenmessut.fi
Sirkka Laine, Communication Specialist, tel. +358 (0)40612 9081, sirkka.laine(a)tampereenmessut.fi