Stand construction Germany

The German trade fair industry enjoys an international reputation that is second to none. No other trade fair venue in the international competition is as convincing in terms of performance, innovation, variety of themes and infrastructure as Germany as a trade fair location. In total, the German trade fair market offers 2.7 million square metres of hall space and is home to three of the five largest trade fair locations worldwide. This blog post takes a closer look at Germany as a trade fair location and elaborates on its success factors.

As part of the German market economy, the trade fair industry is one of the most significant service industries. As a result, Germany as a trade fair location has been able to pursue a solid development into a thematically diversified trade fair venue, which is not only sustainable in character, but also constantly adapts to the changing needs of the economy and is thus subject to a constant optimisation process. The result of this is reflected in the unusually high number of leading international trade fairs and an overall economic production effect of around 12 billion euros. With more than 20 leading trade fairs per year, Germany as a trade fair venue has a constellation that is unique compared to other industrialised countries.

“A trade fair is a temporary, generally regularly recurring event at which a large number of exhibitors display the essential range of products and services of one or more sectors of the economy and sell them mainly by sample to commercial resellers, commercial consumers or bulk buyers.”

With around 150 international trade fairs and exhibitions with over 17,000 exhibitors and approximately nine to ten million annual visitors, the trade fair market in Germany is one of the strongest in the world. Together with the numerous regional trade and public fairs, the German trade fair landscape forms a marketplace platform for more than 200,000 exhibitors and 16 to 17 million visitors annually. Increasingly, the linking of trade fairs and congresses is becoming more and more noticeable. Every year, more than 10,000 congresses and conferences are held in combination with a trade fair and attract around 2.5 million visitors.

The success of a trade fair depends on all the players involved. In addition to the organisers and exhibitors, these include above all the numerous service companies from the catering and hotel sectors, exhibition stand construction and design, event agencies, consulting companies, forwarding agencies and event technology.

The intense competitive situation and the high degree of professionalisation of the German trade fair industry are also reflected in its global representation. The credo of information transparency and the associated customer orientation is realised by approx. 450 information offices operating worldwide, which are distributed over more than 150 countries in some cases, depending on the trade fair company. This dense network of foreign representatives enables the globally recognised and above-average degree of internationalisation of leading trade fairs at the trade fair venue Germany.

Advantages of Germany as a trade fair location

1. Central location – Trade fairs in Germany can be reached from all the world’s economic centres in an acceptable amount of time thanks to excellent flight connections and the best transport infrastructure.
2. Modern exhibition centres – Four of the world’s eight largest exhibition centres are located in Germany and ten German exhibition centres have a hall capacity of more than 100,000 square metres. In addition, there are regional exhibition centres with a hall area of around 380,000 square metres.

3. Trade fair concepts in line with the market – German trade fairs are geared to the long-term needs of the economy and reflect the importance and innovative strength of the respective sectors. The close cooperation between organisers, exhibitors and visitors guarantees long-term market-oriented trade fair concepts and ideal trade fair dates.
4. High internationality – Around 60% of the 180,000 exhibitors each year come from abroad, a third of them from countries outside Europe. Of the 10 million visitors, almost 30% come from abroad.

5. Professionalism – German trade fair organisers are professionals in staging international trade fairs. Some of them hold more than 20 world-leading fairs every year. They are organised by highly specialised and internationally experienced experts in every aspect of the trade fair business.

6. Good value for money – In international comparison, German trade fairs have moderate stand rental levels. At the same time, the quality and quantity of trade fair visitors are at a high level, so that exhibitors meet many of their potential customers here. 

7. Attractive regional fairs – The international and national fairs are complemented by a dense network of well-organised regional fairs with a clear target group approach. This applies to trade visitor fairs as well as to public fairs.