Analysis
Where are the German
organisers?
Matthias Baur reviews what triggers growth in the exhibition industry
“Where are the German organisers?”
could be a question that springs to
mind when you look at the growth
rate of the top exhibition companies
over the last 15 years.
With most of the world-leading
tradeshows taking place in German
venues, Germany was seen as the
leading host country of exhibitions
for decades until the millennium
change. Still today, the industry looks
up to German organisers when it
comes to putting together world-
leading, high-quality shows. In fact,
the German tradeshow industry
drives standards to a higher level
and no one could say that Germany
doesn’t deserve its ranking within the
tradefair ‘Champions League’.
However, when it comes to
profitability, the current top-ranking
positions are not occupied by German
companies. This could be down to
the fact that German organisers are
not registered on the stock market,
but are predominantly owned by
local cities and states. As a result, the
regional economic impact of a large-
scale tradeshow is given just as much
importance as making money. This
is different to a purely profit-driven
model, for example in the UK.
You only need to look at the hugely
positive effect a tradeshow can
have on a region to understand why
German organisers have adopted this
‘dual goal’ approach.
Other countries, such as China,
are also well aware of the regional
knock-on effect of tradeshows, and
have been increasing venue space for
years. So why are cities like London
closing down venues? Does the UK
government not understand and
w w w.exhibitionworld.co.uk
appreciate the impact tradeshows
can have? Does London really need
another block of ‘luxury’ apartments
instead of space to do business?
As a fellow German, I heartily
support German exhibition
organisers with this ‘dual goal’,
however, we can’t ignore the obvious
– German exhibition organisers
are far behind the international
benchmark when it comes to overall
growth rate.
In 2005, Germany held three of the
top five places when it came to sales
revenue generated by tradefairs.
However, in 2017, this number
slipped from three to one, and the
majority of German organisers
moved down the Top 10 list from
being in the first five to being in the
last, which begs the question: “Where
are the German organisers?”
Above:
Growth rates:
CAGR 2005-
2017, based
on the top
31 tradefair
organisers,
according to
AUMA
Why are Germans slowly losing
their hold on the top positions they
have historically and categorically
dominated? Why now have they
started to lag behind? Won’t a slower
growth rate and lower profitability
inevitably result in less power to
invest in tradeshow quality and
product development? Failing to
invest in their product in this way
could trigger a change whereby
German organisers start losing their
position in the global industry at an
even faster rate than during the last
15 years.
A key contributing factor is most
likely the fact that the exhibition
environment is changing and
Germans appear to be adapting
slowly to this change. Exhibitors are
more selective and have more choices
in their B2B strategy than ever before.
Issue 3 2019
49