A cooling German economy and the rising threat of international trade conflicts had little effect on exhibitions in Germany in the first half of 2019. The number of exhibitors at the country’s 107 international and national fairs rose by an average of a good 1% over their respective preceding events to 115,000. The total number of 5.7 million visitors showed a slight increase of 0.3%. And exhibitor stand space increased by 1.5% to 4.2 million square metres.
These figures are the result of preliminary calculations by AUMA, the Association of the German Trade Fair Industry. The results also show that the growing range of digital trade and information platforms has thus far hardly affected the exhibition business.
Of further note is the 3% rise in the number of both exhibitors and visitors from abroad. This reflects the high international reputation of German exhibitions.
“In the first half of the year alone, more than 70,000 exhibiting companies and their staff travelled to Germany, and made 1.9 million international guests visits at exhibitions here,” noted AUMA CEO Dr. Peter Neven. “This also shows that Germany is seen as a welcoming and cosmopolitan country – a crucial advantage for German exhibitions and the German economy in general.”
For 2019 overall, AUMA anticipates approximately 1% more exhibitors, a constant level of stand space and a slight decline in visitor numbers.
The reasons for these somewhat weaker results have less to do with the economy in general than with uncertain developments in the automotive exhibition sector. By way of comparison, 2% more exhibitors and stand space and constant visitor numbers were reported in 2018.
