Berlin, 18 July 2024 // International visitors are returning to Germany as a trade fair venue with an impressively large presence. AUMA, the Association of the German Trade Fair Industry, has now calculated the participation of exhibiting companies and visitors from abroad and the most important countries of origin for 2023. For the first time, the proportion of exhibitors and visitors is above the pre-corona level. The high level of internationality on the exhibitor and visitor side is one of the major advantages of German trade fairs in the highly competitive global market.
Among the exhibitors, China has regained its top position
Of 147,000 exhibiting companies at 166 international and national trade fairs, 96,000 exhibitors came from abroad; in 2022, this figure was a good third lower. Before the coronavirus pandemic, 60 per cent of exhibitors came from abroad; now the figure is 65 per cent. With a share of over 15 per cent, China has regained its top position among the exhibitor nations from 2019 (14 per cent) after the coronavirus-related shifts of the two previous years. The second strongest exhibitor country is Italy (12 per cent) ahead of Turkey (5 per cent).
In figures, this means for 2023 China with over 14,500 exhibitors ahead of Italy (11,700), Turkey (5,000), France (4,800) and the Netherlands (4,700). In 2022, China was in third place with 4,800 exhibitors after Italy (10,500) and France (5,100), followed by Turkey (4,100), the USA and the Netherlands with 3,900 exhibitors.
Most visitors come from Europe
2.5 million of the 7.5 million visitors to international and national trade fairs in 2023 came from abroad. This corresponds to a share of 33 per cent, which is also above the average before the coronavirus pandemic (30 per cent). The most important visitor countries were the Netherlands (190,000), Italy (175,000), Switzerland (165,000), Austria (160,000), France and the UK with 110,000 each.
At 74 per cent, the proportion of visitors from European countries is almost on a par with 2019 (76.9 per cent). Slight increases can be seen in all other regions. For the first time since the coronavirus pandemic, the proportion of visitors from South-East Central Asia has recovered significantly and, at 11.3 per cent, is now slightly higher than in 2019 (10.6 per cent). The growth from Asia compared to 2022 is clear in China, India and Japan, the three most important countries in the visitor rankings: China rose from 34th place (12,500) to 12th place (70,000), India from 18th place (28,000) to 15th place (45,000) and Japan from 28th place (17,000) to 20th place (35,000). One of the reasons for the significant recovery in Asia's share compared to 2022 is the lifting of travel restrictions as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
Overall, the number of foreign participants is still below the 2019 mark: 113,000 exhibiting companies and 3.2 million visitors came to Germany in the year before the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic. The reasons for this slow recovery are the persistently long waiting times for visas at German consulates and representations, according to a survey conducted by AUMA among the foreign representatives of trade fair companies, according to which it sometimes takes two months to get an appointment at all.
In 2023, 320 of 360 planned trade fairs were held. More than 183,000 exhibiting companies and 11.4 million visitors were counted.
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