The coronavirus outbreak has shuttered two popular upcoming events that draw big crowds – and money – in Texas and Washington.
The South by Southwest festival, a popular annual event that attracts more than 100,000 music fans, technology buffs and pop culture enthusiasts to Austin, Texas, has been cancelled amid coronavirus fears, the Statesman reported.
And Emerald City Comic Con in Seattle has been postponed, with organizers announcing the decision to move the four-day celebration of pop culture to this summer because of the outbreak in hard-hit Washington. The event was originally scheduled for March 12-15 at Washington State Convention Center. The event draws around 100,000 people annually.
The city of Austin issued an order Friday calling SXSW off just seven days before it was to start.
According to the Statesman, the event already had cancellations from companies and speakers because of the outbreak. But cancelling the event is expected to deliver a financial blow to business that depend on the festival spending.
A report commissioned by SXSW last year pegged the economic impact of the 2019 festival at about $356 million.
Dozens of companies have bailed on the event in recent days, according to the Statesman, including NBC Universal, Apple, Netflix, Twitter and Intel. In addition, a petition on Change.org describing SXSW as “irresponsible amid an outbreak” and asking that it be canceled collected about 55,000 signatures, the news outlet reported.
The Emerald City Comic Con is one of the biggest events of its kind in the United States, with about 98,000 people attending last year and about 1,000 exhibitors reserving space for the 2020 edition, according to the Seattle Times.
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