The economic importance of the trade fair industry in Germany - study by Prognos on behalf of the AUMA Association of the German Trade Fair Industry, Berlin, February 2026.

Key findings

• In an average trade fair year in the 2024/25 cycle, more than 1,000 trade fair events take place - one third of which are trade fairs of international and national importance. In total, these trade fair events attract over 21 million visitors and almost 370,000 exhibitors.
• A total of almost 16 billion euros is spent on trade fair events in Germany - 11.8 billion euros by exhibitors and almost 4 billion euros by visitors. In addition, trade fair companies invest around 140 million euros in infrastructure and energy efficiency.
• This expenditure means that trade fair events in Germany trigger direct, indirect and induced sales in Germany totalling around 29.9 billion euros.
• The associated economic activities generate employment for 280,000 people.
• Service activities related to the trade fair industry, such as the rental or construction of exhibition stands and the hospitality industry, benefit the most.
• The economic activities lead to tax revenues totalling around 5.4 billion euros in Germany.

Germany as a leading global trade fair centre

As a trade fair centre, Germany is one of the world's leading trade fair locations with a large number of leading international trade fairs. These attract numerous exhibitors and visitors every year, who use trade fairs as a marketplace for presenting innovation, initiating business and networking. The German trade fair industry also has a significant economic impact on the event locations and beyond. It creates demand for goods and services, particularly during the period of an event - for example in the hotel and catering industry and in local and long-distance public transport, as well as in the retail and skilled trades sectors.

Challenges in transition: pandemic, digitalisation and geopolitical risks

The coronavirus pandemic and, in particular, the trade fair bans have had a profound impact on the economic activities of the German trade fair industry. This has now been compounded by the challenges posed by increasing digitalisation, climate protection measures and geopolitical conflicts, which are having an increasing impact on business life. All of these factors have the potential to have a substantial impact on the trade fair industry, as they can change the behaviour of visitors and exhibitors.

A study as a strategic basis for the exhibition industry and policymakers

In this phase characterised by far-reaching changes, this study provides a strong basis for decision-making for exhibition organisers and politicians. It determines the overall economic effect of the trade fair industry in Germany for an average trade fair year in the 2024/25 trade fair cycle. As not every trade fair takes place every year, there are stronger and weaker trade fair years.

Data basis: Surveys at ten leading trade fair locations

Accordingly, the effect of an individual trade fair is weighted in the calculation depending on whether it takes place annually, every two or every three years. The data is based on extensive surveys at ten German trade fair locations on the spending behaviour of exhibitors and visitors at selected events. Participating trade fair locations: Berlin, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Friedrichshafen, Hamburg, Hanover, Cologne, Leipzig, Munich and Nuremberg.

Methodology: Input-output model to determine the overall economic effects

Scientifically based input-output model calculations are used to quantify the macroeconomic direct, indirect and induced economic and fiscal effects. This builds methodically on existing calculations from 2018 (Penzkofer (2018): The macroeconomic significance of trade fairs and exhibitions in Germany, AUMA Edition 49 2018).

Data basis and methodological approach

The core of the study is to determine the economic significance of trade fair events in Germany in an average trade fair year in the period 2024/25. A good 1,875 trade fair events took place during this period. According to the trade fair cycle, not all trade fairs take place annually: A weighting procedure is used to correctly determine the economic importance of these non-annual trade fairs. Two-year trade fairs are given a weighting of 0.5, three-year trade fairs a weighting of 0.33 and four-year trade fairs a weighting of 0.25. It should be noted that three-year or multi-year events that do not take place in these two years 2024 or 2025 are also taken into account. For this purpose, these events are included on a rotation-weighted basis with data on the last event.

In the period under review, an average of 1,016 trade fairs were held in Germany each year. A good 369,000 exhibitors presented themselves and their products at these events and more than 21 million visitors were recorded.

The economic significance was determined on the basis of the following steps:

1. Surveys: At ten trade fair venues, market research institutes conducted surveys at a total of 30 trade fair events in 2024 and 2025 - of visitors and exhibitors respectively. This essentially involved recording spending behaviour during a visit to a trade fair.
2. Projections: By linking the survey data with information on the number of exhibitors and visitors from the AUMA database, the total expenditure of visitors and exhibitors at all events in the relevant period was approximated and weighted on a rotational basis.
3. Sector allocation: These extrapolated total expenditures were supplemented by an average annual investment amount of trade fair companies in Germany and then allocated to sectors. Specifically, it was determined which sectors provide goods and services through this expenditure.
4. Input-output calculation: The extrapolated total expenditure was then fed into a macroeconomic input-output model.
5. In addition to the direct effects, this model also determines the indirect (along the supply chain) and induced (additional consumption through additional income) effects, which together represent the total effects - measured as net sales.
6. Derivation of fiscal effects: The resulting tax revenues in Germany are then derived