AN UPDATE ON L.E/MIAMI:
20 August 2021
Dear Friends,
We are deeply disappointed and truthfully, heartbroken, to announce that the physical edition of L.E/Miami will not happen in 2021, despite all our efforts.
Until earlier this week, our team was working tirelessly to deliver L.E/Miami in physical format, this 1-4 November 2021. We’ve been working since August 2019 to host you on South Beach for the eighth edition of L.E/Miami and throughout these two years, Team L.E/ has embraced the hustle, doing everything in our power to welcome our rebellious collective back to the beach for the contemporary travel show you know and love.
In addition to having frequent calls with Miami’s local authorities, our team has been innovating with our loyal partners and suppliers to accommodate current restrictions and bring you a safe edition of our in-person show.
Unfortunately, due to circumstances beyond our reasonable control, we are unable to host our physical reunion in Miami this November. Instead, we will host the digital edition of L.E/Miami 2021 from 6-17 September, as planned, and the next in-person edition of our show will take place from 13-16 June 2022.
WHY NOT 2021?
With Miami loosening event restrictions and vaccination programmes gaining momentum across the globe, our team remained optimistic that we’d be able to host our beloved community on South Beach in 2021. However:
- With United States borders remaining closed to international travellers for the foreseeable future, we are unable to host our global community of travel tastemakers in Miami this year.
- Even if border restrictions were lifted soon, many embassies are not operating as usual, making it difficult for many delegates, and members of our own team, to retain the visas they require to attend our show. With L.E/Miami remaining an international collective of contemporary travel professionals, our event simply wouldn’t be viable, were we to host an iteration that excluded a large portion of our community.
- We’ve been closely monitoring the rise in Florida’s COVID-19 cases and with the sharp acceleration of this increase over recent weeks, due to the emergence of new variants, we believe it would be both naïve and irresponsible as event organisers to move ahead hosting a large-scale event like ours in this environment.
WHY CALL IT NOW?
- The last thing we’d want is to postpone L.E/Miami’s physical edition at the last minute, leaving you with losses from flight and hotel bookings, and even greater disappointment.
- As a large-scale travel trade show, we’d need to begin production now to construct our show floor and make the magic that defines L.E/. Doing so in the hope that borders will reopen and Florida’s COVID-19 cases will decrease as sharply as they’ve risen, before November, is simply not a gamble we can take. Despite creating some of the most ambitious, exciting travel trade shows in the world, we remain a small independent business and changing course post-production would risk the future of our company and your investment in L.E/Miami.
NOW FOR THE GOOD NEWS…
Nothing’s stopping our digital reunion. And to help bring business to our resilient rebels over the coming months, we’re facilitating L.E/Miami 2021 in digital format, from 6-17 September, and tripling your business opportunities by including not just one show community, but three This is Beyond show communities in this integrated digital event.
After over two years of careful planning, we are devastated that we won’t be able to do what we love most and unite our community on South Beach this year. But we’re beyond excited to reconnect digitally in just two weeks’ time and we remain confident that the digital edition of L.E/Miami 2021 will deliver new connections and opportunities to you and your business, enabling you to succeed in the months and years ahead.
And from there? Next summer can’t come soon enough.
Yours Sincerely,
Serge & Zahava
Serge Dive, Founder & CEO, This is Beyond
Zahava Abend, Director, L.E/Miami & The House of Beyond