July 10, 2024
Friedrichshafen – After turbulent years, Messe Friedrichshafen GmbH is back on track for its 75th anniversary. It’s a birthday with a 2023 annual result back in the green and back in the black: With 11 in-house and 18 guest trade fairs as well as 17 events and corporate events, the trade fair organizers on Lake Constance generated a turnover of 20.4 million euros (2022: 11.9 million euros). The annual result was positive at 201,000 euros and even allowed a rent payment to owners Internationale Bodenseemesse GmbH.
2023 marks the first full year of events after the pandemic, meaning the trade fair business was active in full diversity with both established and new formats. During the long-standing Eurobike show, Messe Friedrichshafen succeeded in bringing a new highlight to Lake Constance: In September 2023, Europe's largest trade fair for Western riding and Western culture, the "Americana," took place, attracting 47,200 horse fans right from the start. In total, around 558,000 visitors and 7,900 exhibiting companies from more than 60 nations came to the exhibition center in the past financial year. As trade fair managing director Klaus Wellmann emphasizes, “These figures clearly underline the economic importance of Messe Friedrichshafen for the city, the Lake Constance region, and beyond. With our wide range of event formats and rentals, we will consolidate and even expand this role in the current year.”
A look at the subsidiary fairnamic
Joint venture fairnamic GmbH, founded in 2021 by the trade fair companies Friedrichshafen and Frankfurt, continues to prove very successful. “Eurobike is developing into the world’s leading trade fair in Frankfurt at a high level and the same applies to the international aviation exhibition AERO in Friedrichshafen. Both formats implemented by the joint venture have recently seen strong new showings and are looking forward to excellent prospects,” reports Stefan Mittag, Head of Finance at Messe Friedrichshafen and Co-Managing Director of fairnamic GmbH. He emphasizes the special role that fairnamic plays in the financial results of Messe Friedrichshafen. “In addition to scheduled profit distributions from 2023, AERO will also make a significant positive contribution as a guest event,” explains Stefan Mittag. In addition, Messe Friedrichshafen provides extensive services to fairnamic GmbH and office space for the subsidiary on the exhibition grounds.
A look into the guest event business
The 2023 calendar was well filled in terms of guest events. These included the established trade fairs Fakuma and Faszination Modellbau as well as “all about automation”, which celebrated its tenth anniversary in Friedrichshafen in 2024, but also the young formats “Eurobee - South German Professional and Commercial Beekeepers' Days” and “Spiel doch!”, held for the first time in 2023. A large part of the guest event business is formed by corporate events, events and congresses of regional companies, and sporting events. As Klaus Wellmann highlights, “We host numerous in-house exhibitions and events for companies from the region as well as the organizers of leading international trade fairs in their respective industries, as well as small and fine trade fairs. In this way, we attract not only visitors but also an immense number of exhibiting companies and their personnel to Friedrichshafen. We see ourselves as a valuable economic promoter in the region, one well-prepared for the future.” The trade fair also provides support in the city and region in times of crisis. This was recently in effect with short-term temporary construction of a central sandbag storage facility during the floods that occurred in the Lake Constance district a few weeks ago.
A look ahead to the 2024 trade fair year
With Motorradwelt Bodensee, the trade fair team started the tightly scheduled year 2024 full of optimism. Featuring a visit from Federal Minister Cem Özdemir, Fruchtwelt Bodensee attracted great media attention, demonstrating its professional importance. Pferd Bodensee, which was also held at its traditional location every two years, attracted more horse fans than ever before with a record number of exhibitors. The IBO, the source of all trade fairs in Friedrichshafen, celebrated its 75th anniversary with thematic expansions and an extensive auxiliary program. The trade fair has been an active part of the city's history for three quarters of a century and is closely linked to Friedrichshafen and the region. To ensure the sustainable success of the trade fair, the focus this year will be on new concepts and measures. “We are putting a lot of energy into qualitative improvements to make our events fit for the future,” says trade fair director Klaus Wellmann. With numerous innovations, Tuning World Bodensee, for example, was able to build on its record year of 2006 and welcome around 110,000 visitors to Friedrichshafen. This year, Interboot will be compressed into five trade fair days for the first time and will have a joint entry ticket with the guest event Interdive. “We have had a successful year of events so far, with rentals and attendance at many levels at pre-Corona levels. However, the effects of the global economic and political situation can still be felt. The complex trade fair business and the demands of the market require increased personnel deployment. Nevertheless, we expect the event industry to continue to develop positively and are confident – because the right strategic course has been set for Messe Friedrichshafen,” summarizes Klaus Wellmann.
About Messe Friedrichshafen
Messe Friedrichshafen GmbH operates a total of twelve exhibition halls of 85,000 m² of exhibition space as well as two open spaces in the inner courtyard of 15,500 m² and the static display of 20,000 m². The city of Friedrichshafen is the majority shareholder with a 50 percent stake. The owner of the exhibition grounds is Internationale Bodenseemesse GmbH, in which the city of Friedrichshafen holds a stake of around 93 percent.
In 2021, fairnamic GmbH was founded as a joint venture with Messe Frankfurt. The Friedrichshafen and Frankfurt trade fair companies are entering into a partnership with a focus on innovative mobility. The portfolio of fairnamic GmbH includes the Eurobike and Aero Friedrichshafen trade fairs. Fairnamic contributes to the annual results of Messe Friedrichshafen, which holds 51 percent of the joint venture.
Further information at: www.messe-friedrichshafen.de, www.facebook.com/MesseFriedrichshafen/or https://www.instagram.com/messe_friedrichshafen/
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