Exhibition statistics which crossed national borders in Europe were published for the first time at the end of the 1980s. The first “European Trade Fair and Exhibition Statistics 1988” contained statistics about over 250 exhibitions in Austria, Belgium, the then Federal Republic of Germany, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. France also joined this project just a year later.
The Society for the Voluntary Control of Fair and Exhibition Statistics (FKM) in Cologne was one of the co-founders and publishers, alongside the two national exhibition audit organisations FKM Austria and FFSB Benelux. “Economic relations between the countries of European are becoming increasingly intensive. This resulted in there being a desire for more information about the other economic partners”, it is stated in the first Europe statistics from 1988. And to find new clients and trading partners, export-oriented firms even then already made very intensive use of specialist exhibitions in neighbouring countries. Among other things, this development led to today’s internationalisation of exhibitions in Europe and necessitated greater transparency in the market.
The English-language brochure “European Trade Fair and Exhibition Statistics” was then published for 20 years by FKM. Since 2008, the worldwide exhibition organisation UFI has acted as publisher of the statistics for Europe, which now bear the name “Euro Fair Statistics”. Data on around 2300 exhibitions in 23 countries are now published in this document. The UFI estimates that around 50% of the whole European market is covered by the report.
