Exhibitors and visitors are becoming more active

Trade fairs and exhibitions play a key role in strengthening trade relations with foreign markets. The importance of Russian and Asian events keeps growing but the leading trade fairs are still in Europe, many of them in Germany. Big German showcases are now hardly or not at all influenced by economic recession – we learned from Szilvia Máté from BD-Expo Kft, the official representative of Messe Düsseldorf and Veletrhy Brno in Hungary. Márta Kakuk, from Mon-Art Reklámiroda Kft., the official representative of Koelnmesse in Hungary told our magazine that in today’s changing world trade fair organisers have to work much more for the success of events than before.

At the same time the world is open to new things: Koelnmesse’s new showcase GamesCom attracted more than 275,000 visitors. Hungarian companies have to learn how to use the opportunities created by trade fairs. Ibolya Seifert, managing director of Interpress Exhibitions and Interpress Travel is of the opinion that being present at international trade fairs does not guarantee success in itself, but if the company is well-prepared, it will be able to appear in foreign markets as a result of participation. Amsterdam and a couple of French venues are also important in Europe’s trade fair sector. According to Ágnes Györki, head of the Villepinte Kft. Promosalons representation in Hungary lower demand for participation from Hungarian companies resulted in that trade fair organisers stopped promotion work in Hungary, spending heir budgets in China, Brazil and India instead. It is also true for the trade fair industry that the big ones are getting bigger and the small ones are getting smaller: the importance of ‘mega’-events keeps growing, many firms try to economise by only participating in one big showcase and making do without smaller regional events. For instance more than 1,000 Hungarian representatives of the printing industry visited Drupa in Düsseldorf, to learn about new trends at the biggest event of the trade which is held every fourth year. In Cologne Anuga is the most important event for the FMCG sector. Unfortunately 2011 brought the lowest-ever Hungarian participation, only 34 exhibitors were there from Hungary. Other countries, with similar characteristics as Hungary, such as Poland, Bulgaria or Greece were present with much more exhibitors. German-speaking countries are still very influential in Hungary’s economy, so Leipzig, Stuttgart, Messe Schweiz and Salzburg are obvious choices for fair participation for Hungarian businesses, and luckily Interpress offers full packages to both exhibitors and visitors if they decide to go. SIAL-IPA-In-Food were all held at the same time and in the same place this year, with a collective stand and individual exhibitors from Hungary, who could arrange everything in advance online (tickets, flight, accommodation, negotiations). Between 24 and 26 March 2013 the biggest-ever ProWein trade fair will take place in Düsseldorf. There will be two new exhibition halls and lots of emerging markets will introduce themselves. The AMC directorate of the Hungarian National Tourist Office booked a more than 200m² collective stand in the biggest pavilion, where 20-25 Hungarian winemakers will present their products. It is needless to say that visitors can make all necessary arrangement online in advance. The same is true for trade fairs in Cologne, what is more, organisers even give a discount to those who organise their participation via the internet. It seems that companies have been given new impetus and Hungarian exhibitors are more prepared for successful trade fair participation than before.