Nr_22
First trade fair results 2005 / Outlook 2006
- Around 2.5% more exhibitors at German trade fairs in 2005
- One-third of German exhibitors want to increase their trade fair budgets
- Over 100,000 trade fair jobs in exhibiting companies
- More trade fairs abroad organized by German companies
6.12.2005 The international trade fairs in Germany are back on the way to growth once again. According to the provisional results, the number of exhibitors at the 142 international trade fairs will have increased by around 2.5% in comparison with the previous events. Last year a decline of 0.7% was still being registered. This was revealed by the provisional calculations made by AUMA – the Association of the German Trade Fair Industry. Commenting on the figures, AUMA Chairman Thomas H. Hagen said: “This is an improvement which was not to be expected at the beginning of the year. The revival was achieved on a broad basis: almost three-quarters of the trade fairs reported an increase in their numbers of exhibitors”.
Particularly remarkable is the stabilization of the number of German exhibitors. Over the course of many years, the trend in domestic participation was a problem: annual declines of 5% were almost the rule. For this year, however, there are indications of a balanced result in comparison to the previous events. The AUMA Chairman: “Apparently the frequently quoted trough has now been reached: the companies recognize that to reduce their trade fair participations even further would be to their disadvantage. Because the optimal presentation of new products and the search for new customers is particularly important, especially when the economy is as weak as it is at present”.
The number of foreign exhibitors continues to grow unabated. This year, AUMA expects an increase of more than 4%, once again mainly from Asia.
Rented space increases once again
Very encouraging, according to AUMA, is that rented stand space has increased slightly for the first time in several years in Germany: an increase of 0.5% in comparison to the previous events is likely. The trend towards reducing stand spaces has apparently been halted. The exhibitors appear to have realized that a certain minimum space is necessary if they are to make optimal use of all the possibilities that trade fairs offer.
With regard to the numbers of visitors, a breakthrough into the positive zone has not yet been achieved. AUMA expects a decline of around 1%; that is however, at least an improvement on the previous year’s figure of 1.4%. Here, the slow but steady reduction in the average length of stay has an effect. Many companies are attempting to reduce travel costs through savings on overnight stays. In addition, in the construction industry – an already chronically weak sector – there has been a further significant decline in numbers of visitors. Exhibitions for the general public in some cases suffer considerable fluctuations in numbers of visitors from year to year, which were frequently due to external influences such as weather conditions. The slight decline in the number of visitors should not, therefore, in the opinion of AUMA, be overestimated in the light of the overall situation of the trade fair industry.
The turnover of the trade fair organizers in Germany this year will not quite match up to the previous year’s figure of 2.45 bill. Euro. It will probably be slightly below 2.4 bill. Euro as, due to the regular rotation, several large events are missing on the programmes of the organizers. Overall, for the current year, AUMA expects a total of 158,000 exhibitors, including 74,000 from Germany and 84,000 from abroad. A total of around 6.3 mill. m² of stand space will have been rented. The number of visitors will probably reach 9.7 mill.
AUMA_MesseTrend 2006: more money for trade fair participations
Nevertheless, the mood of the German exhibitors looking forward to the next two years is cautiously optimistic. That is the conclusion, at least, of the latest AUMA_MesseTrend, a representative survey of 500 German exhibitors by TNS Emnid, which was completed at the beginning of November. Almost one-third of companies are planning increased investments in their trade fair participations for 2006 and 2007, just over half intend to keep their budgets steady, while only 16% want to reduce them. Such a clear trend in favour of increasing budgets has not been registered for many years now. A quarter of the companies surveyed even want to increase their budgets by over 5%. According to AUMA, that is a sign of their confidence in the effectiveness of trade fair participations; for many companies individual marketing measures are now a top priority, especially in the search for new customers and cooperation partners.
The average trade fair budget for the next two years is 282,000 Euro, just under 1% more than in the last two years. Anyone who wants to spend more money on trade fair participations, mainly invests it in larger stands and in stand construction. More expenditure on stand service is also relatively high on the list of priorities. The improvement of the presentations and the care of customers apparently take priority for the exhibitors. Anyone who spends less on trade fair participations, saves initially on the number of participations. Only far behind follow reductions of stand size and personnel expenditure.
The trade fair share of the total communication budget continues to be stable at just under 40%. This corresponds to the surveys of associations in large sectors such as machinery and electrical/electronics industries.
100,000 trade fair jobs in exhibiting companies
In the exhibiting companies, on average 1.9 persons per year are employed to handle trade fair participations. That means with a current total of 56,000 companies which are active at trade fairs in Germany, more than 100,000 full-time jobs. External service-providers are not taken into account in this figure.
The MesseTrend also confirms that the cutting down of the number of trade fair participations in Germany has become much less important. Only around 20% of the exhibitors are now planning fewer participations in the next two years, at the same time, 16% want to conduct more trade fair participations.
It is worth noting that the position of trade fairs in the business-to-business communication of exhibiting companies has further improved: 81% of the companies regard trade fairs as very important or important; in the previous year the figure was 76%. The lead over the very cost-intensive sales force has increased from 1 to 5 percentage points. It is followed by direct mail and advertising in trade journals, both of which have become less important in the eyes of exhibitors. The AUMA Chairman comments: “Trade fairs do mean a “real” dialogue between people, not a dialogue by letter or E-Mail. The fact that this recognition has not been abandoned in this age of so-called dialogue media, gives grounds for optimism”.
Once again an increase in trade fairs abroad of German organizers
The number of foreign trade fairs of German organizers continues to grow in leaps and bounds. For the next year, 192 trade fairs have been announced on all continents. By comparison: in 2003 the figure was just 125, that represents growth of over 50% within just three years. A clear priority is China where, in 2006 alone, one-third of all foreign trade fairs run by German organizers will take place. It is followed by Russia with 29 trade fairs, the United Arab Emirates (14) and India (13). Among the cities, Shanghai (36 trade fairs) leads the way ahead of Moscow (26), Dubai (13) and Mumbai (7).
Given these dimensions, the foreign trade fairs in the portfolio of the German organizers in the meantime account for a respectable share of the companies’ total turnover. According to estimates made by AUMA, in 2004 the German organizers rented over 1 mill. m² of stand space abroad. That is over 10% of the total rental volume of the German trade fair companies. In addition, of the space that is rented at events in Germany, almost 40% is accounted for by foreign exhibitors. The international links of the German trade fair has thus, according to AUMA, reached a scale which bears comparison with the export-intensive sectors of German industry.
Press contact:
Harald Koetter, phone: +49/30/24 000-140, fax: +49/30/24 000-340, email: h.koetter@auma.de
Veröffentlichung kostenfrei - Beleg erbeten / Publication free - File copy requested
Copyright © 2005 - AUMA_ Ausstellungs- und Messe-Ausschuss der Deutschen Wirtschaft e.V.Last update: 12/2005
