Austin’s SXSW 2020 canceled due to coronavirus concerns

AUSTIN, Texas — South by Southwest (SXSW), the annual film, music, and technology event held in Austin, Texas has been canceled due to coronavirus fears.

Austin Mayor Steve Adler issued an order at a press conference Friday afternoon canceling the conference, which was scheduled to take place between March 13 and 22.  Over the past few days  several high-profile corporate participants pulled out of the conference, including Facebook, Intel, Twitter and TikTok, sparking speculation online as to the fate of this year’s event.

SXSW officials said the event had 73,716 registered attendees in 2019, which puts the total number of visitors to the area at well over 100,000. The cancellation represents a huge financial hit to the City of Austin as local restaurants, bars, hotels and other businesses have come to count the weeks surrounding the event as their busiest time of the year.

Several other high-profile events have been canceled or postponed, including Google I/O, Facebook’s F8 developers conference, the Geneva International Motor Show, and Mobile World Congress.