The British, who have defeated every invasion since 1066, are refusing to lose the battle with Covid. Coronavirus is shutting down trade shows worldwide, but the Brits are carrying on. The British Toy Fair 2022 will, as planned, take place from January 25 through January 27, 2022.
The British have decided to live with the coronavirus. They will work around it rather than stop because of it.
Will exhibitors and attendees show up? I think so. As John Baulch put it in his January 7, The Baulch Blog, “One of the advantages of it being a predominantly domestic show is that if anyone does wake up with symptoms, they can get home relatively easily.”
In addition, unlike the New York, Hong Kong, or Nuremberg fairs, far fewer people need to fly to get to the exhibition hall. Part of what unnerved potential attendees in the US and Europe was the anxiety of flying, which carried with it concerns about your seatmate having the virus, having to get vaccinated, and making your way through a bevy of other airport safety protocols.
I wish the British Toy Fair the best of luck and hope that the toy highway finds a pathway by cutting through London.
