Show organiser Faversham House said the wide-format event, which was due to take place from 2 to 4 March 2021, has been moved to 16 to 18 May 2021 and will open on a Sunday for the first time, in Hall 5 of the NEC.

The show’s 2020 outing, which had been due to take place at the NEC from 28 to 30 April, was cancelled altogether in March as the scale of the pandemic started to become apparent.

Event director Jenny Matthew said: “With the positive news of the vaccine rollout, and the government indicating a return to normality for the events industry by Easter, we felt a 10-week extension to our March dates would give us, and our exhibitors, the time needed to deliver a safe and successful show.

“In addition to planning for a Covid-safe exhibition, we have taken the opportunity to reimagine the traditional exhibition format. We have reviewed all aspects of exhibiting and have looked at how we can drive down costs for our exhibitors without compromising on quality, simplify the whole exhibition experience and ultimately deliver more value to our exhibitors and visitors.

“With an already packed floorplan we look forward to bringing more exhibitors on board, and welcoming the industry back, in May 2021.”

Faversham House said more information, including details of new show features, will be revealed in the new year.

A number of other show organisers have also revealed new dates for their exhibitions over the past few weeks, as the pandemic continues to disrupt both local and international events.

Earlier this week Fespa rescheduled its Global Print Expo for a third time, to October 2021, while in late November Easyfairs revealed that its flagship Birmingham Packaging Innovations event will now take place in June 2021. Drupa 2021, meanwhile, was cancelled altogether as a physical event last week and a ‘Virtual.Drupa’ event will run in its place instead.