Regional Snapshot: The Two Sides of France

By Heidi Genoist -- Tradeshow Week, 9/18/2006

Although it doesn't get as much U.S. press as Germany and England, France is one of the three or four most important countries in the European exhibition market.

But some involved in producing exhibitions in France prefer not to lump all the country's shows together as the "French exhibition industry." They say that recent trends have created an important distinction between what happens in Paris, and just about everywhere else.

According to the most recent statistics available from the FSCF ("Foires, Salons & Congres de France"), the French equivalent of the Intl. Assn. for Exhibition Management, the trade fair industry there is going strong. In 2004, the 41 facilities tracked by the FSCF throughout France hosted 5,567 gatherings, including 731 conventions, 908 exhibitions, 1,696 corporate meetings and 2,232 other events. Among the 68 trade fairs studied by the OJS ("Office de Justification des Statistiques"), the FSCF's auditing arm, there were slight increases (less than 1 percent) in net square footage and attendance from 2003 to 2004.

The figures take on greater significance when put in context of the relatively weak overall economic picture of Europe in the last several years, and declines in other countries' exhibition statistics.

France has long been a bright spot on the European tradeshow scene, according to those who work there. International consultant Cherif Moujabber, who spent two years in Paris in the early 1990s when he was president and CEO of IDG World Expo, said the market opened up in the late 1980s, following a long period of venue monopolization by local trade associations.

"Basically, Blenheim, a British company (and the predecessor of CMP Media and VNU), started buying shows from associations, and that's how they got the tenancies," Moujabber recalled. Independent organizers like Reed Exhibitions and Imap followed. "Today, France is better off, if you look at it from an open market point of view, than Germany and Italy, and on par with the U.K."

Christian Gentil, who heads the Paris office of show management firm E.J. Krause & Associates, said France is actually better off than the United Kingdom in at least one regard: market share. Citing Paris Chamber of Commerce statistics, he noted that Germany holds nearly 40 percent of European exhibitions, followed by France and Italy with around 20 percent each, and Spain and the United Kingdom with about 10 percent each.

Asked how the French exhibition industry differs from those of its other European counterparts, Gentil said, "I don't think that it does differ so much. The main particularity is that in France all the important tradeshows are in Paris when, in Germany and Italy, they are all over the country."

This is an important distinction say some, like Francois Gros.

Gros is president of IMEX Management, which recruits American exhibitors and buyers for French shows. In addition, he heads U.S. operations for Exposium, France's largest show management firm, with 103 exhibitions, including three of France's largest: SIAL, for the food industry; SIMA, for agribusiness; and INTERMAT, for construction equipment.

"These shows happen in Paris, but I wouldn't qualify them as French, because their audience is almost half foreign," said Gros. "Tens of thousands of people fly to them from all over the world."

Take SIAL, coming up Oct. 22–26 at Paris-Nord Villepinte Exhibition Center. The 2.2 million net square foot show's 5,256 exhibitors from 99 countries are expected to attract 136,000 visitors from 183 countries.

Between Parisian mega-shows like this and their next closest French competitors, Gros said, there is a huge gap. Moreover, the mega-shows take place biennially or triennially, with their equivalents taking place in other countries during French off-years.

Consider INTERMAT, for example. The French show takes place one year, the American version CONEXPO-CON/AGG the following year, and the German show Bauma the following year. Then, the global, triennial rotation starts over.

This, Gros said, has created a separate league for international shows — a league that not just anybody can play in: "If you go back 50 years, every city in France had its own industrial fair that covered everything for a narrow geographic base. Today, the profile (of the fair) is getting narrower, and the geographic base is getting bigger. In Paris, there are 80,000 hotel rooms, so they can compete for these global shows."

Others cannot. Lyon is the second-most important tradeshow city in France, most agree (Reed recently invested in the company that operates the city's largest venue, Eurexpo). But Lyon has only a tiny fraction of the international exhibition market, and other cities like Nice and Cannes focus on either geographic or industrial niches.

Much of this is due to Paris' worldwide fame as a great place to visit; people would want to go there even if a trade fair weren't taking place. "As soon as you put the Eiffel Tower on your brochure, you attract some interest," Gros said.

Still, the pressure to maintain a spot in the top international tier is enormous, he noted. "Any show that wants to stay there has to make sure that, as the number of shows at the top is reduced, they do everything they can to keep serving the exhibitors and visitors from that industry."