Organisers of a city delegation to the MIPIM property conference remain confident the rescheduled event will go ahead in June, despite the global spread of coronavirus.
But they are also geared up to push their plans forward to 2021 – should the global health crisis put paid to the event.
The Team Leicester group had been due to join some 27,000 business and political leaders at the annual property expo originally due to take place in Cannes this week.
It was cancelled less than two weeks ago over the health risks as Covid-19 began to take hold in nearby northern Italy.
MIPIM - much of which takes place in the same venue that hosts the Cannes film festival – is generally seen as somewhere where meetings between investors, developers, financers, legal experts and construction specialists can take place which might otherwise take months to plan back home.
As many as 40 Leicester and Leicestershire delegates from 20-or-so businesses and public bodies had been due to fly out as part of Team Leicester.
The Leicester and Leicestershire group is part of a broader Midlands 海角视频 delegation which has invested hundreds of thousands in a Midlands Pavilion on the festival site in recent years. It said it was still “liaising closely with partners to consider June’s event”.
Meanwhile the Team Leicester partnership, which is made up of public and private sector organisations with an interest in property development and construction, has made arrangements to transfer its programme to the new dates of June 2-5.
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A gala dinner, for team members to promote the benefits of the city and county to their guests and clients, has been re-arranged and headline sponsor Bradgate Estates has re-booked the Liquid Sky superyacht which will host a Team Leicester drinks reception.
Team Leicester is led by Rob McGuinn, director of MDA Consulting, Richard Osborn, regional director at Excello Law, Mukesh Patel, Leicester managing partner at Freeths law firm, and Mark Oakley, director of inward investment and place marketing at Leicester City Council.
Mr McGuinn said: “The decision to postpone MIPIM is not one that will have been taken lightly.
“It’s a very unfortunate state of affairs for all concerned but we are determined to maintain a positive outlook.
“We are proceeding with our re-arrangements and should there be news from the authorities that plans for June will also be put on hold, then we have a contingency in place to transfer our events to 2021.”
Team Leicester’s events and programme is being managed by Leicester-based Associate Events.
Managing director Alister de Ternant said: "It’s a very difficult situation – no-one benefits from cancelled events but we are doing everything we can.
“We’re working hand-in-hand with our Team Leicester partners, the World Health Organisation, Reed MIDEM, the French authorities and the entire supply chain to make sure all plans are rolled forwards to June and if necessary, 2021.”