Exhibition World Issue 2 — 2020 | Page 29

Germany
How Germany is preparing to bounce
back from Covid-19
We hear from German trade association AUMA and its analysis of the effect of Covid-19 to date on the sector,
and from an exhibition stand design and build expert with a reminder of the attractive fundamentals
of the Deutsche Messe dynamo
Cost of cancelled
and postponed
exhibitions in
Germany could total
€3bn, says AUMA
recent survey by
AUMA, the Association
of the German
Tradefair Industry,
concerning the macroeconomic
impact on the country resulting
from recent cancellations and
postponements of tradefairs, has put
the cost to the sector at €3bn.
Tradefair organisers and
service providers like stand
constructors are suffering heavy
financial losses, AUMA says, with
many other branches of business
affected as well, especially the
hotel and catering industry, the
transport industry and numerous
local suppliers and contractors.
“These industries are suffering
considerable losses in sales with a
direct impact on employees,” AUMA
adds, noting that sales losses mean
tax revenues will fall and thus
impact local economies.
AUMA’s Institute of the German
Tradefair Industry has, for the first
time, forecast the consequences for
Germany based on the calculations
of the Munich-based ifo Institut
for economic research in regard to
the macroeconomic relevance of
German tradefairs in 2018.
The association projects, on
that basis, a loss of around €3bn
Below: Photo ©
Deutsche Messe AG
/ Ole Spata
for the national economy just by
cancellations and postponements of
tradefairs in the country. This also
affects more than 24,000 jobs and
tax authorities will miss over €470m
of tax revenue, AUMA’s research
concludes.
These sums do not include lost
sales of companies, which had
expected to generate turnover
during the tradefairs. Those figures
would be many times higher than
the above-mentioned sums and
can only be substituted to a limited
extent through other measures.
No other marketing device is able
to represent a company and its
products as comprehensively as face
to face, AUMA underlines.
Philipp Harting, Chairman of
AUMA, says there could be a 10%
drop in the tradefair industry’s
input into the national economy.
“Almost all plans for tradefairs
during the next months are null and
void. Organisers, exhibitors, visitors
and contractors are losing any
planning reliability. They have high
up-front costs without the prospect
“Almost all plans
for tradefairs
during the next
months are null and
void. Organisers,
exhibitors, visitors
and contractors are
losing any planning
reliability.”
w w w.exhibitionworld.co.uk
Issue 2 2020
29