Nr_23
AUMA Autumn Press Conference
- For the first time since 2001 more trade fair visitors
- German exhibitors want to increase trade fair budgets slightly
- AUMA Chairman Hagen: Further remove trade barriers
11.12.2006 The revival of the trade fair business in Germany has continued in 2006 and is now also having an effect on the number of visitors. For the first time since 2001 the number of visitors at the international trade fairs has increased once again – according to the provisional calculations of AUMA by about 2.5% compared to the respective previous events. Following the end of the period of economic stagnation, the idea of visiting trade fairs is apparently experiencing a renaissance. At the same time, the AUMA MesseTrend, a representative survey of German exhibitors conducted by TNS Emnid, indicates that almost 85% of the German exhibitors want to increase their trade fair budgets or to keep them constant in the two next years. That was emphasized by Thomas H. Hagen, Chairman of AUMA – the Association of the German Trade Fair Industry at the association’s autumn press conference on 29th November 2006, in Berlin.
The key indicators of the 161 international trade fairs in Germany - numbers of exhibitors and visitors, as well as rented space - all registered in-creases in 2006 thanks to the reviving economy and a better mood among consumers. This had not happened since 2001, according to Hagen. For example, only a year ago, the number of visitors was showing a decline of 2%. This leap into positive figures indicates that during the last few years of economic stagnation, trade fairs have lost none of their acceptance.
The number of exhibitors at German trade fairs has, on average, also registered a positive trend; the number of participations probably increased by about 1.5% in 2006. The number of German exhibitors has remained relatively constant, although the level of domestic participation at many trade fairs has increased. At some trade fairs with an orientation on the skilled trades, however, the bottom of the trough has still not been reached - with corresponding declines in numbers of exhibitors.
The foreign exhibitors were, therefore, once again responsible for the growth in the number of exhibitors with a plus of about 2.5%.
The AUMA chairman: “It is a piece of good news that the rented space has recovered slightly once again, even if the forward progress is only being made in small steps: a year ago we had an increase in stand space of 0.5%, for 2006 we expect a figure of almost 1%.” AUMA also does not expect any major increases in future because, despite the economic revival, companies are continuing to calculate their costs extremely carefully. By far the majority of exhibitors are calculating very rationally, when it is a matter of deciding how much space they require for the achievement of their trade fair objectives. This only can be good for the industry, because for trade fair participations, the focus should be on a cool cost-benefit analysis.
Hagen criticized those companies that cancelled trade fair participations at short notice and returned again one or two years later. He said that this had little to do with strategic marketing and was often simply a reflection of an unclear corporate strategy.
Overall, at this year’s international trade fairs, AUMA expects a total of 171,000 exhibitors, 89,000 of them from abroad, 6.5 mill. m² of stand space and 9.6 mill. visitors.
AUMA_MesseTrend 2007
The positive prevailing mood in the trade fair industry is also reflected in the results of the latest AUMA_MesseTrend, the annual representative survey of 500 German exhibitors by TNS Emnid.
One-third of the companies want to spend more money on trade fair participations in 2007 and 2008, half of them want to maintain their level of spending and only 17% want to reduce their trade fair investments. This result is still a little better than last year, according to Hagen, and indicates that the German exhibitors have given up their restraint of recent years.
It is particularly noticeable that companies which do a great deal of exporting want to expand their fair investments at an above-average rate.
40 % of the exhibitors with an export quota of above one-quarter want to increase their trade fair expenditure. Anyone who exports a lot, obviously also knows that trade fairs can be an additional help.
After all, 40% of the exhibitors active in Germany also exhibit abroad. Investment goods exhibitors make particularly intensive use of foreign trade fairs: here the share is almost 50%, while only 34 % of the German consumer goods exhibitors are also present at foreign trade fairs, apparently also a result of the high export quotas in the German investments goods industry.
The average trade fair budget for the two next years amounts to about 270,000 Euro, almost 1 % more than in the years 2005 and 2006. Companies which want to spend more money on participating at trade fairs, mainly invest this in more trade fair participations and in larger trade fair stands. That is followed by increased expenditure on stand construction and personnel on the stand.
For the first time in years, more trade fair participations are ranked higher than increases in stand space. The AUMA chairman: “This shows the growing willingness of German exhibitors to substantially increase their trade fair involvement and not only to rent a couple of square metres more.” Anyone who spends less on trade fairs initially reduces the number of participations, that is followed a long way behind by reductions in the stand size as well as savings on stand construction and on personnel.
The share accounted for by trade fairs of the overall communication bud-get is around 41 % and thus slightly above the level in recent years. Similar results have also been reported by the latest surveys of the major industry trade associations, such as those of the machinery and electrical engineering industries.
The German exhibitors largely want to keep the number of their fair participations constant. About 23% of the companies respectively plan more or fewer participations within the next two next years.
The importance of trade fairs in the area of business-to-business communication continues to be very high within the exhibiting companies. 79 % of the enterprises consider trade fairs as very important or important. They are followed by the sales force with 78% and followed further back by direct mail with 54 %, advertising in trade journals with 48 % and events with 42%. Instruments which make genuine personal communication possible, according to Hagen, continue to be favoured by the com-panies.
German organizers for the first time planning over 200 foreign trade fairs
The German organizers are continuing to expand their foreign fair engagement undiminished. For 2007 at the present time a total of 203 trade fairs are being planned on all continents. At the same point one year ago 186 trade fairs were in planning.
The most important countries next year will be China with 54 foreign trade fairs, Russia with 33 and the United Arab Emirates with 17. Fourth place will, for the first time, be taken by the USA, according to Hagen. In recent years India had held this place. This shows that the German organizers are also tackling one of the most difficult trade fair markets in the world, namely, the USA. The most important cities with almost equal rankings are Shanghai with 30 and Moscow with 29 trade fairs.
In addition, Hagen expressed his support for the further removal of trade barriers. He said that the high level of international involvement of the German exhibitors and organizers is only possible if the markets all over the world are as freely accessible as possible. Here, he went on, there was still a backlog in individual cases, particularly in China. However, on the other hand, it would be wrong to cut one’s self off from other markets. The AUMA chairman: “Therefore I view with considerable scepticism plans to create a transatlantic free trade area. Such common markets also always build up barriers towards others. If Germany wants to continue to sell high-quality products, for example, in the direction of China, and possibly on an even greater scale, we will also have to live with the fact that China exports products on a growing scale in the direction of Europe. I do not think that we can solve our problems through import quotas or customs duties and they are of no use whatsoever to the trade fair industry.”
Therefore, he pleads that we continue to rely on multilateral trade agree-ments. We should remind countries like China, or in future also Russia, regularly and firmly about the obligations which they accepted with their membership of the WTO.
Press contact:
Harald Koetter, phone: +49/30/24 000-140, fax: +49/30/24 000-340, email: h.koetter@auma.de
Trend_development.eps (1 MB)
Trend_Investitionen.eps (1,2 MB)
Trend_KommunicationMix.eps (1,3 MB)
German_organizer.eps (800 KB)
TradeFairProgramme.eps (800 KB)
comparison.eps (800 KB)
Veröffentlichung kostenfrei - Beleg erbeten / Publication free - File copy requested
Copyright © 2005 - AUMA_ Ausstellungs- und Messe-Ausschuss der Deutschen Wirtschaft e.V.Last update: 12/2006
