Dear colleagues,
As you are probably aware, the eruption of the volcano in Iceland has halted all air travel in Europe and in many other parts of the globe. We have already received many cancellations from participants being unable to travel because of this situation. Currently, there is no improvement in sight and the problems in air travel will likely continue for the next couple of days. We were therefore faced with the difficult decision of whether or not to let the meeting go forward (probably with many speakers and participants missing) or to re-schedule it for a later time point.
We were watching the situation over the last couple of days and had an emergency meeting of the organizing committee this morning. Unfortunately, we were forced to decide to postpone the meeting. So please DO NOT START YOUR TRAVEL TO DUBROVNIK. We are aware that this decision will have serious consequences for all participants who are already on their way or made travel plans in combination with this meeting. But we believe that this is the best decision at this time. We hope that you agree with us and ask for your understanding.
We have been in close contact with the Croatia Hotel (the meeting venue) and they generously offered to charge no cancellation fee for your hotel reservation. Also, airlines should refund your tickets because of this unforeseen situation.
Of course we are still planning to hold the NK2010 meeting. The Croatia Hotel is giving us the opportunity to hold our meeting in September 2010 with the same conditions (room prices etc.). This is particularly generous as September is still part of the tourist season in Dubrovnik. We will announce the exact date within the next couple of days.
We are happy to already guarantee that your current registration will remain valid for the September 2010 date with no additional cost. Also the hotel will guarantee the same room rates for you. We therefore hope to welcome you in Dubrovnik in September 2010. We are aware that some of you may not be able to attend this rescheduled NK2010 meeting. In this case we are planning to refund your registration fee. However, as we currently cannot foresee all the cost associated with this late cancellation of the meeting, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to refund the entire registration fee. We will keep you updated within the next few days together with an exact date for the rescheduled NK2010 meeting.
Please accept our apologies for this decision. This situation was certainly not foreseeable and is out of our control. We hope that with the rescheduling we will still be able to have a successful NK2010 meeting in September.
Please stay tuned and check the web page of the meeting for any additional announcements.
Stipan Jonjic and all members of the organizing team