MUNICH Bavaria is staying in the fast track as a top location for trade fairs. Both Messe München (Munich Trade Fair Corporation) and NürnbergMesse (Nuremberg Trade Fair Corporation) are booking record results. "Business trends for the two leading Bavarian trade fair corporations in Munich and Nuremberg were more than impressive in 2007. This is due not only to the booming economy, but also to the excellent performance of the Bavarian trade fairs in a national and international comparison", Bavaria’s Minister of Economic Affairs, Emilia Müller, was pleased to report. Despite tougher competitive pressure following the opening of the new Stuttgart Trade Fair Center and the merging of the exhibition centers in Paris to create one of the largest exhibition sites in the world, the Bavarian trade fair centers were developing very well.
The State of Bavaria has a 49.9% holding in each of the trade fair corporations. "For us, of course, it is important for the companies to produce a high yield, so that they can maneuver themselves into a good position for facing global competition in the future as well. With their large number of international exhibitions, the two trade fair centers also serve as focal points for Bavarian industry in the international sector. As Bavarian industry now earns one out of every two euros from exports, we need such platforms for the small and medium-sized companies in particular, so that they can use them to present themselves to an international public", the Minister underlined.
But foreign business is also becoming increasingly important for the trade fairs themselves, so that they can help their customers enter new markets. Both centers are therefore present in such countries as China, India and the USA with exhibition events of their own. In this way, trade fair concepts that have proved successful in Germany can be exported worldwide.
With an exhibition space of some 180,000 square meters, Messe München will probably book record sales of € 266 million in 2007 and close the year with a result well in the black. It will therefore continue to rank as the Number 4 in Germany. Group results, incorporating those of its foreign subsidiaries, will even top the € 300 million mark. Close on 34,500 exhibitors and 2.4 million visitors from all over the world came to Munich for trade fairs, congresses and exhibitions such as BAUMA or EXPO REAL.
NürnbergMesse, with an exhibition space of roughly 160,000 square meters, recorded the second best result in its history with a sales revenue of approx. € 123 million and reached break-even point after paying interest on shareholders’ loans. The target for 2010 is a revenue of € 150 million. Currently still the seventh largest trade fair center in Germany, NürnbergMesse is on the verge of outstripping other centers like Berlin or Cologne.
Source: Invest in Bavaria
