German trade fairs top in Europe

Published on: November 24, 2018 / update from: November 26, 2018 - Author: Konrad Wolfenstein

+++ German trade fairs top in Europe +++ Who exhibits at trade fairs? +++ Trade fair country Germany in an international comparison +++ The IFA in comparison +++ The Geneva Motor Show in comparison +++ CeBIT: Far from its old greatness +++ Computer trade fair: CeBIT in comparison +++ Asia dominates CeBIT 2017 +++ Since 2013: Gamescom now attracts more visitors than CeBIT +++ 2013: CeBIT is struggling with dwindling interest +++

The sales volume of trade fair organizers in Germany was around 3.7 billion euros in 2017. The trade fair organizers with the highest turnover worldwide are Reed Exhibitions (GB), UBM plc (GB) and Messe Frankfurt. The Exhibition and Trade Fair Committee of the German Economy (AUMA) counted around 9.73 million visitors to national trade fairs in 2017. Of these, 2.9 million visitors came from abroad. According to the trade fair association's annual balance sheet for 2017, a total of 157 supra-regional trade fairs were counted in Germany. The number of exhibitors at national trade fairs in Germany was more than 176,000 in 2017 and thus fell compared to the previous year (192,094). The trade fairs with the largest hall exhibition capacities in Germany are located in Hanover, Frankfurt, Cologne, Düsseldorf and Munich.

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German trade fairs top in Europe

As the world's largest industrial trade fair, the Hannover Messe attracts thousands of exhibitors. It is also among the top three in the ranking of all European trade fairs with different product focuses, as our infographic based on the UFI Euro Fair Statistics shows. Only the ITB tourism trade fair and the Anuga food show can boast more exhibitors across Europe. Hanover is the only city besides Düsseldorf to host two top 10 trade fairs.

The German trade fair industry represents the five largest exhibitions on this list and has been growing for several years, particularly thanks to more and more international exhibitors.

You can find more infographics at Statista

Who exhibits at trade fairs?

Although most business can now be conducted online and entrepreneurs can showcase their goods and services on the virtual marketplace, real trade fairs continue to be an important marketing tool for many industries.

survey by the trade fair association AUMA , it is primarily the manufacturing industry (including agriculture and mining) that exhibits at trade fairs. As our infographic shows, service providers are a relatively distant second. The craft sector is rarely represented at trade fairs.

You can find more infographics at Statista

Germany as a trade fair destination in an international comparison

US President Barack Obama opened the Hannover Messe in 2016 together with German Chancellor Angela Merkel . At that time, the USA was the partner country for the exhibition on the topic of “Integrated Industry”. In fact, the state capital of Lower Saxony is the largest trade fair location in the world, at least in terms of gross hall capacity. Frankfurt am Main is in second place. As the graphic shows, according to the industry association AUMA, Germany has a total of four locations in the top ten largest measuring locations.

This graphic was published on FAZ.NET

You can find more infographics at Statista

The IFA in comparison

This year the International Radio Exhibition in Berlin, or IFA for short, opened its doors on August 31st. Over six days, the audience was able to familiarize themselves with the technology trends of tomorrow. Around 253,000 visitors came to the last edition of the technology trade fair. This means that the IFA can be considered the largest event of its kind. The Consumer Electronics Show follows at some distance.

You can find more infographics at Statista

The Geneva Motor Show in comparison

2015: It was an expression of the new old strength: the organizers of the North American International Auto Show in Detroit expected one million visitors. The US auto industry was doing well again - and interest in North America's most important auto show increased accordingly. As the graphic for manager magazin showed, almost 200,000 additional visitors had to flock to the Cobo Center on the Detroit River compared to 2014.

You can find more infographics at Statista

CEBIT: Far from old greatness

120,000 people had visited the first summer cebit. The organizers were nevertheless satisfied: "With their new concept, the new CeBIT convinced exhibitors and visitors at their premiere". For comparison: Last year, the old CeBIT (spelling by 2017) attracted 200,000 visitors to the exhibition center in Hanover. In the event of a five-digit decline in audience, speaking of “Europe's Business Festival for Innovation and Digitization”, however, not all of them convinced, as a report by IT Business . Either way, the golden times are now far away - at the time at the turn of the millennium when the CeBIT still attracted up to 800,000 visitors.

You can find more infographics at Statista

Computer fair: CeBIT in comparison

It wasn't that long ago that the CeBIT was a crowd puller. At the turn of the millennium, up to 800,000 visitors flocked to Hanover to take a look at the latest technology innovations. For the 2018 edition of the computer fair, the organizers, on the other hand, “only” expect 200,000 visitors. In the end it was “only” 120,000 people.

Another indication of the shrinking importance of the CeBIT is that Microsoft waived its own stand. Instead, the software giant prefers to expand the commitment at the Hannover Messe. At IFA, too, the company will be on site with its own stand. For Microsoft, the CeBIT is only "one among several trade fairs," said a company spokesman. The once largest computer fair in the world degraded to the 0815 event.

The reorientation towards trade visitors could also be to blame for the decline. Although the downward trend seems to have stopped now, the trade fair will not be able to regain the appeal of earlier times. On the contrary, there is a permanent threat of mediocrity of the pure tie fair. In any case, the big stages have long been elsewhere, for example at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona or in Las Vegas at the Consumer Electronics Show, both of which have significantly increased their visitor numbers over the last ten years. That Microsoft – as happened in 1995 – presents a new version of Windows at CeBIT; This is currently unimaginable.

You can find more infographics at Statista

Asia dominated CeBIT in 2017

Japan was the partner country of CeBIT 2017, but most foreign companies at the technology trade fair came from China, as an analysis of the exhibitor list shows. Accordingly, 489 companies from the Middle Kingdom made their way to Hanover. Taken together, Asia represented over 50 percent of the exhibitors based outside of Germany. The USA was in third place with 76 representatives. Swiss and Italians from our immediate neighborhood were particularly well represented at CeBIT. The local technology industry was there with a total of 1,602 exhibitors.

You can find more infographics at Statista

Since 2013: Gamescom now attracts more visitors than CeBIT

The leading European trade fair for digital gaming culture, also known as the computer games fair Gamescom, is based in Cologne. The organizers reported over 800 exhibitors from more than 45 countries in 2015, which was a new record. After a slight decline in the previous year, this was also achieved in terms of visitor numbers. Even back then, more visitors came to the trade fair than to CeBIT. The last time this had more guests than Gamescom was in 2012.

You can find more infographics at Statista

2013: CeBIT struggles with dwindling interest

The largest computer fair in the world has been held every spring since 1986. In recent years, the CeBIT has increasingly struggled with the audience's declining interest. In 2012, 312,000 people visited the fair. For comparison: 2004 and 2008 there were almost 500,000.

You can find more infographics at Statista

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