No 4
AUMA Annual Press Conference9.6.2009 In 2008 international trade fairs in Germany recorded outstanding results. Compared with events held in previous years, rented stand space and visitor attendance rose by around 4 % respectively. The indications are that in the early months of 2009 exhibitor participation, at around 3 % less, remained more or less stable. In view of the extent of the recession the trade fair industry had until now remained relatively unaffected, said Hans-Joachim Boekstegers, Chairman of the Association of the German Trade Fair Industry (AUMA), speaking at the association's Annual Press Conference on 27 May 2009.
- Stand space at German trade fairs increased by 4 % in 2008
- Exhibitors reduce participation in 2009 only slightly
He added that with 176,500 exhibitors, 7.0 million square metres of rented space and 10.3 million visitors, the overall figures for 2008 were again close to the outstanding results of previous years. Despite strong challenges from other competitors the trade fair industry had impressively overcome a period of stagnation from 2002 to 2005. Boekstegers: "Compared with attendance at previous events visitor numbers rose by 3.5 %, a figure unattained since the nineties. The reason for this was a positive economic trend in certain sectors, in particular the engineering industry." However, these results also generally indicated that trade fairs were broadly accepted as a marketing medium. Overall exhibitor participation had increased by 1.9 %, domestic exhibitors by 2.1 %, and foreign participation by 1.8 %. Obviously, German exhibitors now believed even more firmly in the effectiveness of domestic trade fairs.
However, growth in exhibitor numbers from abroad was at its lowest for a long time, most probably reflecting the onset of the global recession. Much lower growth rates were reported for Central and Eastern Europe and China, for example.
Among the various types of events, the gap between trade fairs for capital goods and events for consumer goods has widened yet again. The amount of stand space at trade fairs for capital goods rose by more than 9 % and visitor attendance by almost 7 %, due mainly to a positive economic trend in certain sectors. By contrast, consumer goods events for trade visitors averaged less positive results throughout. The reasons had less to do with the economy and rather more with changes to sales and buying structures in individual sectors.
According to preliminary results, in 2008 German trade fair organisers recorded a turnover of approximately EUR 2.8 billion. This figure includes business abroad, services and the congress business, and is the highest figure to date (2007: EUR 2.7 billion; 2006: EUR 2.55 billion).
Outlook for 2009
As far as trade fair trends in 2009 were concerned, Boekstegers stressed that, in view of the extent of the current financial and economic crisis, trade fairs in Germany continued to fare relatively well, in particular when compared with other media. Exhibitor attendance at trade fairs which had already taken place was only marginally below the figure for previous events, at around 2 to 3 % less. What was also clear was that exhibitors were being forced to cut back, causing stand space to drop by around 5 %. According to Boekstegers many of the companies who exhibited at fairs were experiencing a significant downturn in sales. Consequently, one could not expect trade fair participation to be sustained at the same levels.
Visitor attendance had dropped by an average of 10 %. Once again the same rules applied: If companies refrained from making large investments then there was also no need to obtain information in advance. Nevertheless, downturns such as these had no impact as far as the general attraction of individual trade fairs and their ability to function were concerned. Boekstegers: "There is a financial and economic crisis, but no crisis in the trade fair industry."
He added that AUMA expected overall figures for the year to be slightly down on the results for the first few months, although it would be pointless to state exact percentages.
Boekstegers stressed that the key reasons for attending trade fairs, person-to-person dialogue for example, were extremely important, particularly in these times. Taking part in trade fairs represented a confidence-building measure and a means of maintaining relations. Companies who maintained close customer relations were a step ahead not only as far as information was concerned, but also in terms of the confidence they had created.
Trade fairs held by German organisers abroad increase in size
In 2008 there was yet another slight increase in the number of trade fairs held by German organisers abroad, a rise of four events to 220 compared with 2007, said AUMA's managing director Dr. Peter Neven. He added that the size of individual trade fairs and being able to adequately replicate the respective markets was more important than the sheer number of fairs. In this respect significant progress had been made in recent years. Last year a total of 88,500 exhibitors, an average of 402 exhibitors per event, attended trade fairs held by German organisers abroad. Last year there were 360 exhibitors and in 2004 only 295. The trend for visitor attendance was similar. In 2008 there were 22,000 visitors per fair, in 2004 only 18,000.
Last year a total of 4.9 million visitors attended trade fairs held by German organisers abroad. The amount of rented stand space exceeded 2 million square metres, half of which was taken up by 77 trade fairs in China, where there were 38,000 exhibitors and close to 2.6 million visitors alone.
According to Dr. Neven 31 trade fairs were held in Russia, 80 % of which took place in Moscow. The largest increase last year was in India, where the number of trade fairs rose from 12 to 22, and where high economic growth in recent years had clearly significantly improved conditions for high-quality trade fairs.
Currently, organisers from Germany were planning to hold 223 trade fairs in 2009, three more than last year. Cancellations in recent months had been minimal. Clearly, these trade fairs enjoyed a high reputation in the respective markets, so that even in difficult times exhibitors stood by their decision to take part. The countries which continued to be most important to German organisers were China (69 trade fairs) and Russia (32). Once again, there was a sizeable increase in trade fairs in India (from 22 to 26), with the United Arab Emirates (from 15 to 19) increasingly offering interesting prospects too. 13 trade fairs are due to be held in Turkey, and 12 in Japan.
According to Dr. Neven, German trade fair organisers are currently investing large efforts in improving exhibitors' preparations for their participation in trade fairs. For this reason more than 10 large and medium-sized companies had set up an alliance with the aim of systematically offering courses to exhibitors throughout Germany. This alliance was one of the largest collaborative projects run by German organisers. He added that AUMA had been supporting the project since early 2009. Its title now is the Seminar Alliance of German Trade Fairs within AUMA. The Austrian and Swiss trade fair companies Messe Wien and Messe Schweiz have now also joined up.
Press contact:
Harald Koetter, phone: +49/30/24 000-140, fax: +49/30/24 000-340, email: h.koetter@auma.de
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