AQUA 2023 trade show and all-new Water Alive consumer event will not run in 2023.
OATA Impact Exhibitions has cancelled this year’s AQUA trade show.
First-ever Water Alive consumer event has also been cancelled.
Both events were planned for mid-October 2023.
The Ornamental Aquatic Trade Association and OATA Impact Exhibitions have sadly announced the cancellation of AQUA 2023. The UK aquarium industry trade show (and the largest aquatic-only trade event in Europe) had been planned to take place in the autumn at Telford International Centre in Shropshire.
Things were due to kick off on Thursday, the 12th of October, running for three days until Saturday, the 14th of October. For the first time ever, members of the public were also invited to enjoy the corresponding Water Alive event. Held alongside the main AQUA industry-only trade show, Water Alive had been set to take place across two days on Friday the 13th and Saturday the 14th of October.
The biennial main AQUA exhibition, launched in 2010, was last held in 2021, where it proved as successful as ever, even in the wake of the pandemic.
This time around, the plug has reportedly been pulled over fears that neither event would break even. The consumer-focused Water Alive element had, it seems, been incorporated to help boost the revenue of the main trade-only show. Unfortunately, this doesn’t appear to have shaped up too well as planning got further underway, and now neither event will run in 2023.
The exhibition’s organisers are understood to be exploring ways to make one or both events a possibility again in the future. However, whether the AQUA trade show or all-new Water Alive consumer event will run in 2024 or 2025 (and beyond) remains to be seen for now.
