Record Number of Overseas Attendees

A study from AUMA (The Assn. of the German Trade Fair Industry) has found, despite the onset of the international economic crisis, tradeshows in Germany reported a record 2.55 million visitors from abroad last year, compared with 2.5 million in 2007, the previous record. At several German tradeshows, the survey found the number of foreign attendees rose again in 2008.

Overall last year, nearly 10.3 million attendees came to international tradeshows in Germany. According to AUMA officials, this demonstrates the worldwide appeal of tradeshows in the country, even in a deteriorating worldwide economic situation.

Last year, German tradeshows attracted close to 200,000 people from Asia, 90,000 from North America and the same number from the Middle East, as well as 60,000 each from South America and Africa.

Not surprisingly, about two-thirds (1.7 million) of foreign attendees came from countries in the European Union and more than 13 percent (340,000) from other European countries.

The United States was the non-European country with the highest number of visitors (80,000), followed by India (65,000), China (45,000) and Japan (35,000).

In Europe, the Netherlands led the rankings with 220,000 visitors, ahead of Italy, with 145,000, and Belgium, France and Austria, with 130,000 each. AUMA noted a significant portion of attendees from neighboring countries were members of the general public, whereas audiences from abroad consisted almost entirely of trade attendees.