Messe Essen
Gary Tufel -- Tradeshow Week, 6/18/2007
Essen itself has a lot to do with Messe Essen's success. The city is located close to the heart of the European Union. It's the eighth-largest city in Germany, with a population of 600,000, and home to nine of the country's top 100 companies.
Revenue at Messe Essen, founded in 1913, has doubled in the past 10 years. In 2005, the most recent year for which revenue figures are available, it was about €60 million ($80.6 million).
Every year, Messe Essen hosts about 35 international fairs and exhibitions, which in 2005 comprised 14 of its own events, 17 guest events and four joint ventures.
Two million visitors from about 100 countries, and almost 13,000 exhibitors, of which 26 percent are from other countries, participate in trade fairs in Essen annually. In 2005, fairs occupied 114 days and a total of 1.16 million square meters (12.5 million square feet). In all, the facility hosted about 50 fairs and exhibitions that year.
Messe Essen offers 110,000 sq. m. (1.2 million sq. ft.) of exhibit space in 18 halls, all directly linked to one other. There is also 18,600 sq. m. (200,000 sq. ft.) of outdoor exhibit space available. Its CCE, Congress Center Essen, includes 27 congress halls and conference rooms that can accommodate up to 8,000 delegates. It hosts nearly 1,000 events each year.
CCE has introduced services to assist exhibitors with technology, logistics, booth construction, security, catering, decorations and staffing. The center also includes three press centers and five restaurants, directly connected to its exhibit halls.
Messe Essen's major annual international fairs include Schweissen & Schneiden, the Essen welding show; E-world Energy & Water; Fibo; Security; Equitana, an equestrian event with 800 exhibitors; IPM; and the Essen Motor Show, which attracted 400,000 attendees last December. In addition, it hosts 14 consumer shows, including Mode Heim Handwerk, Spiel, Reise/Camping and classic car show Techno-Classica.
The company has spun off several significant shows overseas, including the Schweissen & Schneiden welding engineering fairs: Beijing Essen Welding & Cutting, Schweissen & Schneiden Russia, launched in May of this year, and Schweissen & Schneiden India in Hyderabad. Security & Safety Middle East and the MTS Motor Tuning Show are held in Dubai. IPM China takes place in Foshan, and Reifen, a 47-year-old trade fair for tire manufacturing technology, will debut in Shanghai Nov. 14–16 as Reifen China.
Essen offers about 70 hotels and guest houses with more than 5,000 beds for exhibitors and attendees. A new five-star Marriott Renaissance hotel is slated for construction adjacent to the fairgrounds.
Joachim Henneke, Messe Essen chairman and CEO, said in 2006 the company opened a new office in the Gulf region in order to strengthen its existing contacts and events, and to set up new ventures with local partners. Messe Essen subsidiaries also operate in the United States and Italy.
