Oktoberfest 2020 canceled due to COVID-19
The SARS-CoV-2-pandemic eventually made the cancellation inevitable.
The unexpectedly early date of the announcement already suggested what the Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Söder and Munich’s Mayor Dieter Reiter would announce on April 21st: in 2020 Munich will miss its fifth season due to the COVID-19-pandemic. The 187th Munich Oktoberfest will be postponed to 2021.
Söder called himself and Reiter the biggest fans of the Oktoberfest, the largest and most beautiful festival in the world. However, he also said that we need to be especially careful as long as there is no vaccine or medication. After all, Ischgl’s après-ski, lent beer festivals, and the carnival were also responsible for the distribution of the virus.
A smaller alternative or other festivals of that type will also not take place during that time.
Mayor Reiter talked about this being an emotionally and economically difficult moment. Munich will miss between 1.2 and 1.3 billion euros of indirect profitability.
They wanted to decide early as Reiter didn’t see any sense in getting up hope when it’s obvious that the festival will not take place. He hopes that we’ll be able to make up leeway next year even an even more intense way.
The central agricultural fair (Zentrallandwirtschaftsfest, ZLF) is also canceled.
This cancellation ends the longest series of continuously held Oktoberfests in its history. Since 1949, it was held 70 times in a row. The cancellation of 2020 is the 25th since the first Oktoberfest in 1810 and already the third due to an epidemic.
Munich will additionally miss an economic output of 1.2 billion euros.
What do you think? Could the cancellation still have been prevented? Should they have waited until June?