Due to trade fair cycles – with trade fairs taking place at up to four-year intervals – all leading global trade fairs between August 2019 and June 2020 will be held at the Düsseldorf Exhibition Centre. K and A+A already took place in 2019 and will be followed this year, among others, by wire, Tube, interpack and drupa. All these events ensure major growth figures for Messe Düsseldorf in its domestic business. “This trade fair season, which with CARAVAN SALON started in autumn 2019, has had the highest number of visitors so far and will finish in June 2020 with drupa, which is already booked out. So in all, in only ten months we will have welcomed around 1.6 million visitors and 35,000 exhibitors at our proprietary events in Düsseldorf alone,” says CEO Werner M. Dornscheidt. “Our 2019 earnings have more than trebled compared with the previous year. The season has been highly profitable, laying a robust foundation for future investments.”
The outlook for the future is also promising: “Prospects for the current year are more than encouraging,” says the CEO of Messe Düsseldorf. In 2020 GmbH earnings increase substantially again, as forecasters are predicting a 69.5 % rise to € 82.2 million. According to the forecast, the revenue is set to grow 40.2 %, reaching € 474 million. This will make the company even more profitable, with returns likely to be 17.3 % in the coming year. The remaining trade fair cycles will not lead to a more quiet year until 2021.
Growth in existing and new events
In 2019 Messe Düsseldorf GmbH held a total of 29 events (previous year: 27) at its home base, the capital of North Rhine Westphalia on the River Rhine. 18 of those events were proprietary events and 11 were either partner or guest events. Proprietary events attracted 26,259 exhibitors on nearly 835,000 sqm of net exhibition space and almost 1.3 million trade visitors. “Compared with previous events, we recorded 2.9 % more exhibitors and visitors and 2.3 % more net space,” says Dornscheidt. Some of the biggest revenue drivers last year were the number one events K, MEDICA, A+A and ProWein, as well as the trade fair quartet The Bright World of Metals (GIFA, METEC and THERMPROCESS and NEWCAST).
“Our leading global trade fairs are growing. At the same time we are continually creating specialist exhibitions on niche subjects with major future potential,” says the CEO of Messe Düsseldorf as he comments on the new additions to his company’s trade fair portfolio. In 2019 persuasive two-digit growth rates among exhibitors and visitors were also recorded by the PRINT & DIGITAL CONVENTION, a convention and exhibition on multichannel and dialogue marketing, and by tasc, the world’s first trade fair for automotive glass, smart repair and car detailing. In 2020 SPORTS INNOVATION will be taking place for the second time at the Düsseldorf Arena, directly next to the exhibition centre. Working in partnership with Germany’s première league enterprise DFL Deutsche Fussball Liga GmbH, Messe Düsseldorf will be offering a platform for new technologies in game analysis, broadcasting and the stadium experience, to name but a few.
One new item in the portfolio will be Saw EXPO. From 2020 the trade fair on sawing technology will be managed by Messe Düsseldorf as a special pavilion at wire and Tube. In the intervening years, from 2021 onwards, it will be held as a stand-alone trade fair in Friedrichshafen. There are also plans to create a spin-off for Tube China in Shanghai in 2020.
Expanding the international network to strengthen sales
Having opened its new international office in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on 1 January 2019, Messe Düsseldorf now has 77 such offices – including seven international subsidiaries – in 141 countries. “We are continuing to expand our international activities for a number of reasons,” says Dornscheidt. “Firstly, we want to meet the demands of the market in an increasingly globalised economy. Secondly, we want to attract more international exhibitors and visitors to our leading global trade fairs here at home in Düsseldorf. And thirdly, we’re aiming to improve our ability to cushion cyclical fluctuations through our robust international business.” Of the approx. € 67 million achieved by the Group internationally in 2019, € 33 million was made in Russia, € 14 million in China and € 10 million in Singapore.
Trade fairs as stimulants for growth markets
In all, the Messe Düsseldorf Group held 57 proprietary and joint events outside Germany. The group is particularly expanding its international business in dynamic future markets with major potential for growth, such as in Africa, South America and the Middle East.
The positive impact of internationalisation on Düsseldorf as a trade fair venue confirms the company’s globalisation strategy. The proportion of international guests has been rising for many years now. In 2019, 73.4 % of all exhibitors at proprietary events in Düsseldorf came from outside Germany (previous events: 71.3 %), while the share of international visitors was 37.1 % (previous events: 36.6 %). Dornscheidt is pleased: “Our proprietary events in Düsseldorf therefore reached new records that are unique for German industrial goods trade fairs.”
Modernising the exhibition centre: added value for customers and the environment
To stay competitive and attractive to future customers, Messe Düsseldorf is keeping its exhibition space and premises abreast of the times, continually improving its technology, convenience, amenities and architecture. A new Hall 1 was opened in autumn 2019, after two years of construction. Covering over 12,000 sqm, it has enough space for 10,000 people. In addition, it has six glass-enclosed meeting rooms on the upper floor, each of them 200 sqm, as well as the foyer offering event space of over 2,112 sqm.
Hall 1 has been continually booked up from the very beginning. The new South Entrance with its premium quality architecture, 7,800-sqm canopy and 20 m of headroom will be completed in spring 2020. In total, the project will have cost € 140 million.
The New Southern Section forms part of the Messe Düsseldorf 2030 Masterplan which, since the year 2000, has so far included Halls 6, 7a, 8a and 8b, the new North Entrance and the complete modernisation of seven halls. The next hall that is earmarked for modernisation is Hall 9. All exhibition halls are to reach state-of-the-art energy use by 2030. “We reckon we’ll be investing over € 720 million in development projects over the next for 12 to 15 years, with the complete modernisation of the Düsseldorf Exhibition Centre. The details will be decided by our supervisory boards.”
_{(Source: Messe Düsseldorf GmbH)}