Germany’s 70 or so exhibition venues are kicking off the New Year with over 310 trade fairs already planned into the calendars, the national exhibition industry trade association AUMA reports.
PSI, the leading European trade fair for the promotional products industry kicked things off in Düsseldorf over three days (7-9 January), with a further dozen trade fairs set to run in middle of January throughout the country. The total includes new events on topics such as care, energy and construction, AUMA reports.
The association says March will be the strongest trade fair month with 53 trade fairs, while July has only one exhibition booked in to date. The busiest trade fair day of the year will be 8 November, when 16 trade fairs will run simultaneously throughout Germany. Munich and Nuremberg will be the busiest cities for exhibitions in 2025, with 28 trade fairs each, followed by Stuttgart with 24.
Philip Harting, chairman of the Association of the German Trade Fair Industry AUMA, says: “The German trade fair industry is defying the economic slack in Germany. We owe this to the loyal international audience of exhibitors and visitors. We are also increasingly feeling the restraint of German companies because their economic prospects here in Germany are bleak. The German trade fair industry is calling for a new German government to quickly provide strong economic policy stimuli for the exhibition industry. This includes the expansion of the foreign trade fair programme or the Young Innovators start-up trade fair programme. Long overdue is the digitalisation of visa procedures for our foreign guests and exhibitors, which are crucial for our success as the number one trade fair venue in the world. We also expect the reporting obligations for our companies to be minimised in terms of bureaucracy.”
The first balance sheet for the 2024 trade fair year shows growth in all industry’s key figures. Compared to the respective previous events, an average of 9% more visitors (11.7m), 10% more exhibiting companies (205,000) and 7% more stand space (7.1m sqm) were counted at the 322 trade fairs last year. The increase is remarkable because 50 trade fairs were affected by strikes in local, long-distance and air traffic in the particularly busy first quarter of 2024. Many trade fair visitors were unable to travel at all or had to cut their trade fair visit short. According to AUMA projections, a plus of up to 250,000 people would have visited trade fairs.
AUMA picks out a dozen key trade fairs to watch for in 2025:
- 17-26 January, Berlin: the International Green Week will become 99 years old. It takes place annually at the exhibition centre beneath the Berlin Radio Tower. The ten-day trade fair is a meeting place for the food and luxury food industry, agriculture, forestry and fisheries as well as for specialists in livestock farming, veterinary medicine, horticulture and landscaping. Most recently, around 306,000 trade and private visitors and more than 1,400 exhibiting companies attend.
- 12-14 February, Dortmund: A new trade fair for innovative building shells, Inolope Expo will be organised by Messe Dortmund and aimed at trade visitors. Four industry associations are supporting the project as partners. In the future, Inolope Expo will take place every two years.
- 14-18 March, Hamburg: The first international trade fair for the hotel, catering, bakery and confectionery industries, Internorga, was held in Hamburg back in 1921. This year, experts from the catering, shop design, food and luxury food sectors meet in the Hanseatic city for five days. The trade fair is accompanied by international congresses, an industry day for communal catering and several industry competitions.
- 7-13 April, Munich: The world’s largest trade fair, the construction machinery and mining trade fair Bauma, will again take place at its traditional timeslot following its move to October in 2022 because of the huge demand from the construction industry post Covid. Now it will take place in spring again – as it has done every three years since 1954. Last time, almost half a million visitors and more than 3,200 exhibiting companies came together on around 400,000sqm of rented hall space and outdoor area.
- 26-30 May, Hanover: Ligna, the trade fair for the woodworking and wood processing industry, is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. The trade fair has been held every two years since 1975 and this year organisers promise more than 700 product premieres. Almost 60% of trade visitors come from abroad.
- 25-26 June, Wiesbaden: The trade fair Parking, which takes place every two years, offers a platform for pioneering solutions in stationary traffic. The organiser is Mesago, a subsidiary of Messe Frankfurt, based in Stuttgart. Mesago also organises the SPS International Trade Fair for Industrial Automation in Nuremberg (25-27 November).
- 26-28 July, Hamburg: The twice yearly Nordstil, a guest event organised by Messe Frankfurt at Messe Hamburg, showcases trends from the home and lifestyle sectors. In summer and at the beginning of the year, exhibiting companies, designers and manufacturers can present their goods, which only trade visitors can order on site.
- 29 August-7 September, Düsseldorf: Alongside the Gamescom computer games fair in Cologne (20-24 August), the Caravan Salon opens the shorter second half of the trade fair year. Since 1989, the Salon has been attracting trade and private visitors who want to find out more about touring cars, utility vehicles, motorbikes, caravans and related accessories. It was one of the few trade fairs that was able to take place in Germany during the Covid times.
- 15-19 September, Essen: The world’s leading trade fair for joining, cutting and coating, Schweissen & Schneiden, only takes place every four years and has been a classic in Messe Essen’s programme since 1952. It is aimed exclusively at trade visitors from the metalworking, metal processing and welding technology sectors. More than 1,000 exhibiting companies, 50,000 trade visitors and €2.5bn in investment from trade fair visitors are expected.
- 14-17 October, Nuremberg: Interlift, the international exhibition for lifts, components and accessories, will be held at NürnbergMesse for the first time. More space has already been booked for the 2025 show than at the last Interlift, which was still held at Messe Augsburg, reports organiser AFAG. Interlift aims to grow significantly with the move.
- 12-14 November, Karlsruhe: Klimahouse Germany, a trade fair for sustainable building, is a new addition to the calendar. The company Hinte Expo & Conference is coming to the exhibition centre in Karlsruhe as guest organiser. In future, the trade fair will be held once a year and is aimed at both private individuals and professionals.
- 4-7 December, Cologne: The International Motorcycle, Scooter and E-Bike Trade Fair Intermot marks the end of the year.
The comprehensive annual trade fair programme in Germany can be found here: https://www.auma.de/en/exhibit/find-your-exhibitions?list=v2qo and the new events of the year can be found here: https://www.auma.de/en/exhibit/find-your-exhibitions?list=y4wd
Photo: Philip Harting. Copyright: AUMA / Christian Kruppa
Source: www.exhibitionworld.co.uk
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