SARS Concerns Delay PACex in Canada

Published: April 24, 2003, By PRESS RELEASE

TORONTO, ON, CANADA—The Packaging Association of Canada recently announced the rescheduling of PACex International 2003 due to growing concerns about Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). Show organizers say the show now will open September 30 and run through October 2, 2003, instead of the original run dates of May 6—8, 2003.

According to PAC and PAC-Exhibition Inc., the unrelenting wave of concern and, now, offical warnings from the World Health Organization, have prompted exhibitors, suppliers, and visitors to re-examine their participation. Says the show organizer's president Alan Robinson, "The new fall time frame will give everyone an opportunity for a fresh outlook, and hopefully enable the medical community time to resolve the SARS question."

Robinson also says exhibit space contracts for the show will be honored in "every way" and be "applied identically" to the rescheduled show without penalty or inducement. "Any costs associated with an extensive re-promotion of the show to ensure its success in the new time frame will be absorbed entirely by show management," he adds.

PACex Intl., reportedly Canada's 5th largest industrial trade show, includes FOODtech Marketplace and the Canadian Materials Handling and Logistics show. The biennial exhibition will remain at Toronto's International Centre venue, will occupy more than a quarter of a million square feet, and is expected to attract 15,000 visitors from Canada, the US, and abroad.

The visitor pre-registration deadline has been extended to September 8, 2003. Badges for attendees that have registered already will be mailed to them in late August. For more information, contact Kathryn Grimbly, PACex Intl. 2003 media contact, at 416/492-9501 (ph); 416/492-7783 (fax), or visit pacexinternational.com. Visit the Packaging Assn. of Canada (PAC) at pac.ca.