TRADE FAIRS CANCELLED AND POSTPONED – GERMAN ECONOMY FEELS THE LOSSES

Many trade fairs in Germany have been canceled due to the current corona crisis. One of the first was ITB Berlin, which was canceled just 5 days before it opened its doors. Now, it was announced that Frankfurt’s IMEX has also been cancelled.

The original purpose of the business event was to bring exhibitors and buyers together at the Frankfurt Fair and Exhibition Center from May 12 to May 14, 2020. The next IMEX will be held from May 25 to May 27, 2021.

Since the annual sales volume of trade fair organizers in Germany is around 4 billion euros and the MICE industry is extremely important to the economy, according to the German Association for Industry Communication (Bundesverband Industrie Communication), the sector will be hit hard by the current crisis. is expected. e.V.) (BVIK)

With around 10 million visitors to national trade fairs, Germany is one of the world’s leading trade fairs. According to the association, 178 national trade fairs were counted – including well-known major events such as the Hannover trade fair and a large number of smaller, highly specialized trade fairs.

For the capital goods industry, delays and cancellations mean the loss of one of its main order channels. A large number of companies in the exhibition stand construction, hotel and catering sectors are at risk of severe financial loss.

BVIK – the industry association for communication and marketing – clearly warns of the enormous, still unpredictable, but often existential consequences of the cancellation and postponement of such major events. About 220 corporate members of the association have been directly affected and are facing challenges that are partly difficult to resolve. The Research Institute for Exhibition and Live Communication (R.I.F.E.L.) estimates losses in the exhibition construction sector alone at 670 million euros, and the trade fair industry at over 1.6 billion euros.

“It is feared that many suppliers will not survive the crisis and there will be massive job losses in Germany,” warns Rainer Pfeil, Managing Director, Bluepool GmbH Trade Fairs & Events and Board Member of BVIK.

Trade Fairs Canceled and Postponed – The German economy is feeling the brunt

About 40 percent of industrial companies’ annual marketing budgets have been flowing into trade fairs for the past few years, as the BVIK study “B2B Marketing Budget” shows. Online channels are growing, but German SMEs continue to rely on personal contact with customers without conviction.

From an industry perspective, it should also be kept in mind that the dates of major trade fairs represent important milestones in the product development cycle of industrial companies. All communications are geared towards this and must now be digitally bridged for at least four months, as in the case of the Hannover Fair, which is very costly. But many marketing managers in the BVIK network doubt whether virtual trade fairs will be as successful as real ones. Canceling major events like trade fairs not only means huge losses in the marketing department but also in sales due to lack of orders from the trade fair business.

The expected loss of sales due to additional costs on the one hand and lost trade fair orders on the other will certainly not affect medium-sized industry and the German labor market in any way.