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economic impact, internationality and location factors.
“ Trade fairs in Germany generate value of around € 30bn annually, secure more than 280,000 jobs and generate approximately € 5.4bn in tax revenue,” he says, noting they serve also as platforms for innovation, B2B communication and international business deals, particularly for SMEs.” These strengths form the basis for concrete policy demands, including the expansion of transport infrastructure and faster and fully digital visa procedures.
Industry guru Tesi Baur, founder of research specialist consultancy MBB, believes the main advantages of the German market are modern infrastructure and very professional teams.“ In Germany exhibitions are often a part of a cities’ DNA. That means the venue, the city authorities and other stakeholders have interlinked processes to plan and execute exhibitions – a great benefit to launch or to move shows,” he says.
“ Furthermore, German exhibition organisers and venue owners are prepared to truly partner up with guest events. They understand the pain points to launch and grow an exhibition, and they have the mindset to enter a partnership that helps an exhibition in its different lifecycle phases.”
The biggest challenge for Germany in trends in exhibition design and delivery, Baur believes, is that the younger generation of exhibitor decision-makers demands much more than just some halls full of stands and enough density on the show floor.“ We are in a transformation process in which we need to curate content on the show floor much more,” he notes.“ AI solutions,” he believes,“ are often driven more by the supplier and not the organiser side. This means that organisers more look at what is available on the market instead of creating their own vision of how future exhibitions can be curated.”
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In terms of solutions for matchmaking, AI is already a big enabler and game changer for our industry, Baur believes.
Baur points out that large scale portfolios of shows serving the same industry normally stimulate the flagship show on the headquarter venue.
Investing in venues will also be an ongoing task in Germany, he thinks, not least because the last decade has brought super modern venues in Asia and the Middle East.“ The German venues need to keep up with these internationals standards,” says Baur. Another keen differentiator in Germany, he notes, is that politicians use trade shows much more as a platform to promote the German economy than their counterparts in some other countries.
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Estrel Berlin
EW took the trade fair temperature at some of Germany’ s leading venues and the Estrel Berlin says that accessibility, affordability, and overall attractiveness of both the capital city and the venue are key to driving its business with organisers.
One of the Estrel’ s returning, flagship exhibitions, World Money Fair, has reported record visitor numbers in 2026 and the adjacent 176m, Estrel Tower opening the end of this year, will add 3,800sqm of flexible event space to the main venue’ s 30,000sqm capacity.
Diane Pentaleri-Otto, director international sales, marketing & PR, says the Estrel team is also testing the AI waters, with employees required to complete a two-phased, video AI training emphasising data privacy and company security.
The Estrel Berlin puts a priority on sustainability, too. From energy use
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Right: The Estrel Tower |
to ethical food waste management and elimination of single use plastics, changes in operations have resulted in the venue achieving Leader Level status in the Berlin’ s sustainability certification programme. The new Estrel Tower is striving for LEED ® Platinum( Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification and plans include green rooftops with photovoltaic systems, bicycle parking, and CO2-neutral district heating.
Messe Frankfurt Over at Messe Frankfurt, president and CEO Wolfgang Marzin tells EW business is going well with many events hosted for the first time.“ The guest event business is becoming increasingly international and Messe Frankfurt and IMEX have extended their co-operation agreement for another five years,” Marzin says. Asked to list the Messe’ s key strengths, his answers are similar to other leading venue-organisers in the country: planning reliability and professionalism, excellent international accessibility, and an event-friendly infrastructure.
Frankfurt’ s strong economic network is an extra asset, he highlights, although notes customers are highly cost-conscious now.
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www. exhibitionworld. co. uk |
Issue 3 2026 41 |