Coronavirus: Oktoberfest cancelled due to pandemic
Oktoberfest has been cancelled due to fears about the coronavirus outbreak, organisers confirmed today.
The historic knees-up is the largest beer festival in the world, attracting roughly 6m visitors to Munich each year.
But in a joint statement Bavaria’s minister president Markus Soeder and Munich’s lord mayor Dieter Reiter said the festival would not go ahead this year as the risks linked to the spread Covid-19 were too high.
“It is about the biggest and most beautiful festival in the world,” Soeder said at a press conference at the Bavarian state chancellery.
“We are living in different times, and living with corona means living carefully. The greatest sensitivity applies to celebrations.”
Reiter said the decision was a “bitter pill to swallow”, both for revellers and for businesses in Munich that will suffer a heavy financial blow from the cancellation.
Oktoberfest is of huge economic significance for the city, generating more than €1bn (£879m) in revenue each year.
The festival, known locally as Wiesn after the 100-acre expanse where the tents are pitched, was due to take place between 19 September and 4 October.
Oktoberfest first began on 12 October 1810 when locals were invited to celebrate the marriage of crown prince Ludwig to princess Therese of Saxony-Hildburghausen. It has since grown into the largest annual tourist event in Germany.
Last year boozers drank 7.3m litres of beer over the course of the festival, a slight decrease on the 7.5m litres put away in 2018.
Event organisers counted roughly 3,800 items of lost property, including 420 smartphones, 115 umbrellas, a set of dentures and a flugelhorn.
The decision to scrap the annual jamboree comes despite Germany this week beginning to lift some lockdown restrictions, with small retail shops, car and bike dealers and bookshops allowed to reopen.