+++ 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 +++
German trade fairs top in Europe – @shutterstock | r.classen
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.
[pt_view id=”62ee259ioh”]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.
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.
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
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.
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.
CEBIT: Far from old greatness
120,000 people attended the first summer CEBIT. The organizers were nevertheless satisfied: “The new CEBIT impressed exhibitors and visitors at its premiere with its new concept.” For comparison: Last year, the old CeBIT (spelled until 2017) attracted at least 200,000 visitors to the exhibition center in Hanover. Despite a five-digit decline in audience, speaking of an opening success for “Europe's business festival for innovation and digitalization” did not convince everyone, as a report from IT Business shows. Either way, the golden times are now a distant past - back at the turn of the millennium, when CeBIT still attracted up to 800,000 visitors.
Computer fair: CeBIT in comparison
It wasn't that long ago that 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 technological innovations. For the 2018 edition of the computer trade fair, the organizers are expecting “only” 200,000 visitors. In the end there were “only” 120,000 people.
Another indication of the shrinking importance of CeBIT is that Microsoft decided not to have its own stand. Instead, the software giant prefers to expand its involvement at the Hannover Messe. The company will also have its own stand at the IFA. For Microsoft, CeBIT is now just “one of several trade fairs,” according to a company spokesman. What was once the largest computer trade fair in the world has been reduced to a run-of-the-mill 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.
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.
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.
2013: CeBIT struggles with dwindling interest
The largest computer trade fair in the world has taken place every spring since 1986. In recent years, CeBIT has increasingly struggled with declining audience interest. In 2012, “only” 312,000 people visited the trade fair. For comparison: in 2004 and 2008 there were almost 500,000.
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