Visitscotland Expo and Datafest fall victim to outbreak

● Major events pulled as First Minister advises cancellation of mass gatherings

Two key industry events are among the Scottish gatherings now cancelled due to concerns over the spread of coronavirus.

Datafest 20, a two-week data and artificial intelligence festival that is already underway across Scotland, has called off its remaining events while Visitscotland Expo, billed as the key trade event in the travel sector, has been pulled due to a “significant number of cancellations” by attendees as a result of the virus.

The cancellations come as a blow to Scotland’s conferences and events industry, with organisers of Visitscotland Expo previously expecting to host more than 2,000 attendees from 30 countries on 1 and 2 April at P&J Live in Aberdeen.

Datafest, which takes place throughout Scotland, will no longerholdcoreeventsincluding the Data Summit – due to be headlined by acclaimed astronaut Tim Peake.

It comes as First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said it was “inappropriate that we continue as normal” and recommended the cancellation of gatherings of more than 500 people to protect front-line services.

A spokesman for Datafest 20 said: “Having carried out a thorough risk assessment, remaining core events will be cancelled including Data Summit, Data Talent Scotland, Data Tech, two STEM [science, technology, engineering and mathematics] events, and our executive dinner.

“We are recommending all fringe events be cancelled; however, we cannot force organisers to do so.”

Fringe events, run by external partners under the Datafest umbrella, include hackathons, debates and meetups.

Datafest said will issue full refunds for the face value of tickets.

Malcolm Roughead, chief executive of Visitscotland, added: “We have been monitoring the situation for some time but it is clear that we are already seeing significant cancellations from key countries, as well as concerned enquiries about the event and hesitancy from attendees to travel.

“With the number of cases of coronavirus increasing across the world, we did not want to contribute to its potential spread across Scotland and beyond.”

The cancellations came on the same day the Edinburgh International Conference Centre received the go-ahead for a hotel and hotel school development in the capital’s Haymarket.

CEO Marshall Dallas acknowledged the current uncertainty, saying: “Our industry is going through challenging times. We also believe that the situation will recover over time.

“Today’s announcement is about an infrastructure project for the future.”

Meanwhile, the Scottish Salmon Producers Organisation also flagged the impact of coronavirus, with Scottish salmon – the UK’S top food export – now facing restrictions in key markets as a result of measures to help contain the outbreak.