The four-day event was to be held at the Le Meridien Resort & Spa in Noumea, New Caledonia, and some airfares for members and suppliers had already been booked.
However, Nationwide Jewellers management decided to reschedule the event following travel warnings issued by the Australian and New Zealand governments, in light of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
Colin Pocklington, managing director Nationwide Jewellers, said, “In the interests of the health and safety of members, suppliers and staff, we have decided to defer the Noumea conference until May-June 2021. We will advise a precise date in a few weeks after discussions with the hotel.”
The event had seen a high volume of member bookings, exceeding the number that had signed up for last year’s conference at the same point.
Crystal Vilkaitis, a US retail marketing specialist, was due to give the keynote presentation and advanced workshops for members.
Pocklington confirmed that Nationwide staff were working on transferring pre-booked airfares for members and suppliers to next year.
At the time of publication, Air Calin flights had been successfully rebooked at no extra cost, while changes to Qantas and Air New Zealand bookings had not been finalised. Members will be advised as soon as details are confirmed.
However, Pocklington remained optimistic for the 2021 conference, which will mark Nationwide Jewellers’ 30th anniversary. “Hopefully the world will be back to normal by mid-2021, and we can look forward to what should be one of our best conferences ever in terms of attendance and location.
“This will be a great event to look forward to.”
Nationwide has 399 members across Australia, New Zealand and Fiji, operating 461 stores.
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