“The number of events recorded has risen steadily in recent years. UFI estimates that this year’s data represents almost 55 percent of the European trade fair market. We would like to thank all the national associations that contribute to this report by providing their certified data. This year, for the first time, they were asked to specify whether the figures reported refer to visitors or visits, which improves the accuracy of the indicator,” says Chris Skeith OBE, CEO of UFI.
Data is available for 151 trade fairs in Germany, which were collected by the Society for Voluntary Inspection of Trade Fair and Exhibition Figures. One of these events was hybrid, while all others were purely physical trade fairs. The certified data comes from a network of 11 cooperating industry associations from across Europe.

The organizations involved were AEFI (Italy), AFE (Spain), ATFEO (Finland), BDO & Associates (Portugal), CENTREX (Central Europe), CLC-VECTA (Netherlands), FEBELUX (Belgium), FKM (Germany), SOKEE (Greece), TOBB (Turkey), and UNIMEV-OJS (France).

You can download UFI Euro Fair Statistics 2024 as a PDF file here.

Der Beitrag UFI Statistics 2024: Europe’s trade fair market continues to grow erschien zuerst auf FKM.

Hattendorf: One of the success factors in our industry is the trust exhibition organisers enjoy with exhibiting companies. This trust is based on fair and transparent cooperation. Audited exhibition data increases this trust. In an more and more digital, data-driven business world, credible statistics are becoming more important than ever.
Our research shows that audited figures strengthen this trust – and we have seen that work of FKM clearly benefits Germany as an exhibition location in the face of increasingly tough international competition.

FKM: How widespread have audit systems become, for example in central and eastern Europe or in Asia and other regions?

Hattendorf: Audits of exhibition figures were initially established in Western Europe. Worldwide there are currently around 1000 “UFI approved events” – this is a certification from our association for exhibitions that comply with a series of international quality criteria. A key criterion here is audited exhibitor and visitor figures. Most of these “approved events” take place in China, Germany and Russia, followed by Spain, Turkey and Poland. Italy, South Korea, Hong Kong and Ukraine complete the Top Ten. In individual markets – South Korea, for example – there are industry-driven institutions comparable to FKM.
What’s interesting is that a new awareness seems to be emerging, even in markets where organisers have so far avoided the effort of auditing and questioned the sense of it.

FKM: How do you assess the work of FKM in Germany from a global point of view?

Hattendorf: The fact that most German exhibition data is audited is attracting great attention abroad. The work of FKM and its partners make it one of the reputation drivers of the German exhibition industry. This means we as a global association frequently and confidently cite the principle which FKM uses as a best practice case.
To put it in a nutshell, there’s a lot of talk in our industry about more data-driven business models, and many exhibition organisers offer their exhibitors data products for this purpose. So it ought to be a matter of course that the absolute core data of every exhibition is validated. Thanks to FKM and the broad consensus it has established, this is now actually the case almost everywhere in Germany. That means it would be good if the FKM standards and procedures were to become even better known internationally.

Der Beitrag Three questions for Kai Hattendorf erschien zuerst auf FKM.

FKM provided a definition years ago: if an exhibition wants to present itself as international, it should have 10% foreign exhibitors and 5% foreign visitors. The definition is based on that of the global association of the exhibition industry UFI. The AUMA – Association of the German Trade Fair Industry goes one step further: beyond fulfilling the percentages, at least 20 exhibitors and 100 visitors have to come from abroad (german).

Why define these seemingly petty details? The “international” label should not only advertise but also provide a point of orientation – for exhibitors, visitors and media representatives. The perspectives, however, are distinct. The visitor wants to know whether noteworthy offerings from abroad will be present, and not just from importers but from companies that are based in foreign countries and therefore have the associated local knowledge. That’s also why companies whose products are presented by importers are not listed as foreign companies. The exhibitor, in turn, associates the term “international” with a minimum of visitors from other countries, and not merely the symbolic 1%. So in order to serve the expectations of both groups, we define limits of 10% of exhibitors and 5% of visitors.

And when those proportions are verified by FKM, all the better. After all, a visitor can always check the catalogue afterwards to determine how many foreign exhibitors were on hand. An exhibitor, by contrast, has very little chance of finding out anything about the origin of the visitors. And organisers who disappoint or mislead exhibitors seldom see them again.

Der Beitrag What actually is an international trade fair? erschien zuerst auf FKM.