Fair Germany

AUMA report: Tradeshow business in Deutschland expected to recover

By Heidi Genoist -- Tradeshow Week, 6/28/2004

The international trade fair business in Germany is looking up, according to a recent report by AUMA — The Assn. of the German Trade Fair Industry. But U.S. organizers and suppliers shouldn't expect to benefit any time soon; Germans are taking their business East.

On June 10, the 81-member AUMA released its 2003 annual report, as well as projections for 2004 based on the shows that have taken place so far this year. While last year's business continued to be slow, due mainly to a weak domestic economy, this year's shows signal an uptick.

According to the report, Germany in 2003 hosted 289 trade fairs and exhibitions with a total of 7.6 million square meters (81.8 million square feet) of paid exhibit space, 210,000 exhibitors and 16.6 million attendees. Of those, 142 shows qualified as "international" (not regional). They spanned 6.12 million sq. meters (65.8 million sq. ft.), and drew 160,238 exhibitors and 9.54 million attendees.

While impressive, these numbers actually reflect declines. The number of exhibiting companies was down by an average 2.1 percent from 2002 to 2003. Paid exhibit space dropped an average of 6.5 percent, most likely because exhibitors across the board cut the size of their booths, observed AUMA CEO Herman Kresse in a statement. Attendance was also down, slipping 3.8 percent compared with the previous year.

But some good news was contained in the gloomy statistics. Despite overall declines, the number of foreign exhibitors increased 1.8 percent, with exhibitors from overseas occupying 52.2 percent of the space at German trade fairs last year. Besides attracting more international companies to their domestic shows, German organizers increased their own activity abroad. In 2003, shows produced on foreign soil accounted for an estimated 10 percent of German organizers' revenue, with the total number of shows abroad increasing from 20 in 1990 to 125 last year.

Katharina Hamma, deputy director of business for Messe Munchen, said her organization has increased its international activities, particularly in Asia, as a way of making up for the weakness in the German and European markets.

But don't expect to see many German show organizers on your doorstep any time soon. The foreign market focus is currently on East Asia, with half of overseas German shows expected to take place there in 2004. East Asia is followed by Central and Eastern Europe, where 21 percent of foreign shows are expected to be held, due mainly to the expansion of the European Union, according to AUMA. Latin America will pick up another 17 percent, putting it third.

Best of all, the 76 international shows held so far in 2004 show signs of recovery. Although the report did not provide specific numbers for this year's shows, it predicted overall increases if current trends continue. AUMA expects to see 9.8 million visitors and 168,000 exhibitors at this year's 152 scheduled international trade fairs.

Munich's experience reflects the report's optimism. Hamma said the first five months of 2004 "have shown positive signals. The numbers of exhibitors and visitors were generally increasing." The organization even managed to set some participation records, with ispo - Winter and bauma+mining both seeing their highest-ever numbers of exhibitors and attendees.

In related news, AUMA announced June 18 that members had elected Thomas H. Hagen as its new president. Hagen, CEO of the Weidmuller Group in Detmold, will succeed Horst Dietz, chairman of the Industrial Investment Council in Berlin. Meanwhile, Manfred Wutzlhofer, chairman and CEO of Messe Munich, was elected AUMA vice president, to replace Klaus E. Goehrmann, chairman of the board of Deutsche Messe in Hannover.