It’s not clear if the results of the March online event informed Pubat’s decision to hold the Book Expo in-person despite the obvious limitations social distancing imposes, and the understandable public wariness that mark the in-person event.
Details remain sketchy about the attendance at the 2020 Thailand Book Expo as we pass the mid-way point, with one news agency reporting “huge interest“, but no visitor estimates, and images from the event showing a less than packed venue – as we’d expect and hope for with social distancing – which must be hurting revenue expectations.
The 25th Book Expo – not to be confused with the Bangkok International Book Fair which was one of the first on-line book fairs of the pandemic era – was allowed to go ahead September 30 through October 11 strict safety precautions.
Organised by the Publishers and Booksellers Association of Thailand (Pubat), the 25th edition has about 250 publishers participating, compared with 318 in 2019, and as this image from the Book Expo Facebook page shows, while visitors are masked and there is plenty of space.
The online Bangkok International Book Fair event in March –
– was put together at very short notice as a stop-gap measure when the in-person event was unable to proceed, so will not have enjoyed the benefit of forward planning that has enhanced online fairs this year since then.
It’s not clear if the results of the March online event informed Pubat’s decision to hold the Book Expo in-person despite the obvious limitations social distancing imposes, and the understandable public wariness that mark the in-person event.
Thai book fairs for remainder 2020
Next up for Thailand is the 7th Southern Book Fair that will run October 17 – 25 October 2020.
That’s followed the debut Khon Kaen Book Festival, set to run November 5-11.
The final event of 2020 will be the 7th Udon Thani Book Festival, which will run 20 – 29 November 2020.
