Le Meett, Toulouse's new exhibition center, had to deal with the health crisis from its inception.

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Nicolas Stival / 20 Minutes

  • Sized to accommodate a million people per year, the Meett opened in early September.

  • The Toulouse fair, from Saturday, was to mark the real debut of the new Parc des Expos located to the north-west of the city.

  • The event initially planned for April, postponed twice, in June and then September, was finally canceled against the backdrop of expanding Covid-19.

Goodbye the center of Toulouse, hello the outskirts.

The venerable Parc des Expos de l'Ile du Ramier, which has become obsolete, has been replaced since the beginning of September by a new tool installed in Aussonne, in the north-west of the city: the Meett, with its 15,000 m² convention center, its hall exhibition area of ​​40,000 m² (plus an outdoor area of ​​25,000 m²) and its 5,000 parking spaces.

The whole cost more than 300 million euros and must receive a million people per year.

"We were in seventh national rank for reception capacity and we are now climbing to third place, without counting Paris [behind Lyon and Nice], calculates Jean-Luc Moudenc, mayor LR and president of the metropolis which has financed 64% of the project.

The attractiveness of Toulouse is considerably enhanced.

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Cancellation rather than 1,000 people per day

For the time being, it is above all the circulation of the Covid-19 which is increasing in Haute-Garonne as elsewhere in France.

And after three events with a tonnage reduced to 5,000 people, including the motorhome fair, the hardening of prefectural measures, Monday, sounded the death knell for the International Fair, which was to truly baptize the Meett from Saturday.

Rather than welcoming only 1,000 spectators per day, Toulouse Evénement, a subsidiary of GL Events responsible for the management of the venues, preferred to cancel the event, which usually attracted around 90,000 people in ten days.

Twenty other shows are under threat, according to Patrice Vassal, Managing Director of Toulouse Evénement, who mentions “zero visibility”.

"Our future is rosy even if the complexity of the current health context disturbs us a lot", he hopes however.

  • Covid 19

  • Fair

  • Coronavirus

  • Toulouse

  • Economy