In 2015 about 5% more international exhibitors at German trade fairs
Large increases in the number of Asian exhibitors marked the 2015 trends in exhibitor numbers at Germany’s trade fairs. Around 10% more companies attended in comparison to the equivalent previous events from South, East and Central Asia alone. However, many EU countries are increasingly present in Germany’s exhibition landscape too. The total number of foreign firms at the 164 international and national exhibitions thus rose by 5.6% to 101,891; they now account for 58.9% of all exhibitors. These are findings of an analysis by AUMA, the Association of the German Trade Fair Industry.
In addition to East Asia, remarkable rates of increase were also seen from the Middle East (+14%), Africa (+6%) and Latin America (+4%). EU countries also produced a 4% rise. The presence of exhibitors from Australia and Oceania rose by more than 10%. Rates of increase for North America and non-EU European countries were much lower than the average, at 1% each.
Growth of 12% from the People’s Republic of China contributed substantially to the increase from Asia overall. China nonetheless lost its 2014 top spot in terms of exhibitor numbers, which was reclaimed by Italy now accounting for nearly 13,000 participations, not least due to over 1,000 Italian exhibitors at the Anuga food fair, which takes place in uneven years only.
Substantial rises in exhibitor numbers also came from other Asian countries such as India (+12%) and Japan (+10%). By contrast, numbers from Thailand and Indonesia fell by 9% and 4% respectively.
Increases, in some cases substantial ones, were also seen for plenty of EU countries, in spite of an already high base. Italy rose by a further 6% in 2015 in comparison to the equivalent previous events, France by 7%, Spain by 5%, Poland by 9% and Portugal and Hungary by 11% each. The reason for this in some cases is that the exhibition landscape at home has grown thinner and companies are using Germany as a platform for exports not only to Germany itself but to other countries too.
Italy, with 12,735 event participations, was the biggest exhibitor nation at Germany’s international and national fairs in 2015, followed by the People’s Republic of China (12,395), France (6,144), the US (5,441), the UK (5,353) and the Netherlands (5,347). Next highest were Spain (4,492), Austria (3,772), Switzerland (3,261), India (3,190) and Turkey (3,057).
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