The organisers of Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants have announced the 2020 awards ceremony will no longer take place.
The event was scheduled to be hosted in Japan’s Saga Prefecture from 22-24 March, however ongoing fears of Coronavirus have forced the hand of the organisers, William Reed.
“This is an extremely difficult decision for us, as we very much wanted to support the restaurant industry across Asia, which has suffered from the side-effects of the coronavirus situation in recent weeks,” said Charles Reed, CEO of William Reed.
“Despite our best endeavours, it would not be responsible to stage our events as planned.”
Yoshinori Yamaguchi, Governor of Saga Prefecture, agreed with the decision to cancel the event.
“We have been in close communication with the team at 50 Best and have come to this reluctant decision together in order to safeguard all parties concerned. Given the current situation, and the fact that no one can be sure of how things will develop with regard to the spread of the virus, the decision to cancel the events in Saga became unavoidable.”
While the gastronomic events and #50BestTalks are off the table, the awards ceremony will be broadcast live on 24 March.
Chefs, restaurateurs, media and partners will be able to stream the ceremony online, with full details announced shortly.