Messe Berlin Targets New Record Turnover in 2014

The Messe Berlin GmbH group of companies has begun the New Year having just concluded its most successful odd-numbered financial year in the company’s entire history. With a turnover of 190 million euros (2011: 180 million) Messe Berlin was able to post a new record.

During the past financial year (2013) Messe Berlin’s 58 in-house and guest events attracted around 26,000 exhibitors from more than 180 countries, who rented 1.22 million square meters of hall space. Over 20,000 exhibitors participated in the company’s in-house events, of whom around two-thirds came from abroad.

As many as 51 in-house and guest events had previously taken place in 2011. These were attended by around 20,000 exhibitors, who rented approximately 900,000 square meters of hall space. In 2013 over 1.5 million visitors from Germany and abroad attended the company’s events (2011: 1.4 million). More than 550,000 of this number were trade visitors (2011: 500,000), of whom around 60 per cent came from abroad.

In 2013 the Berlin Exhibition Grounds once again played host to numerous large-scale congresses, particularly in the medical field. Thus over 13,000 visitors came to the International Congress Center Berlin (ICC Berlin) to attend the world’s largest gastroenterology congress. Overall, Messe Berlin Conventions organized 35 congresses and shows.

The total number of visitors was 135,000, of whom around 60 per cent came from abroad. Berlin ExpoCenter City also hosts hundreds of conferences, meetings and workshops, which are part of the supporting programs for trade fairs. Events took place at established venues such as the International Congress Center Berlin (ICC Berlin), the Palais am Funkturm, the Marshall Haus and in the display halls on the southern section of the grounds.

Berlin ExpoCenter Airport is Messe Berlin’s second event venue, located adjacent to BER, the capital’s future new airport. In 2013 highlights here included the January and July editions of the fashion show PANORAMA BERLIN. Showcasing high-turnover collections of men’s and women’s wear, shoes and accessories, each of the two editions was attended by around 70,000 trade visitors from around the world.

John Deere, the world’s largest manufacturer of agricultural machinery, also presented its products on the new grounds. During August and September the company exhibited its 2014 line-up to 5,000 selected sales representatives, dealers and major customers, who came from 40 countries.

For the Messe Berlin Guest Events division the awards ceremony in early December 2013, at which Federal President Joachim Gauck presented the ’Zukunftspreis’ award, was one of the financial year’s highlights. Other events including Velo Berlin and the World Publishing Expo also attracted widespread media attention.

Altogether, over 235,000 visitors (30,000 more than in 2012) attended the 41 guest events held by Messe Berlin in 2013. Exhibitor numbers grew as well and reached approximately 4,500. The events run by this division are extremely diverse and include highly specialized trade fairs such as CWIEME Berlin, the largest coil winding exhibition in the world, Hochzeitswelt, Einstieg Berlin, an event for career starters, and Kreativ Tage Berlin.

In 2014 all of Messe Berlin’s leading trade fairs are scheduled to take place. They include the International Green Week Berlin 2014 (17 - 26 Jan.), FRUIT LOGISTICA Berlin 2014 (5 - 7 Feb.), ITB Berlin (5 - 9 March), the International Berlin Air Show ILA 2014 (20 - 25 May), IFA 2014 (5 -10 Sept.) and InnoTrans (23 - 26 Sept.).

Abroad, Messe Berlin organizes two highly successful shows, offspring from the corresponding trade fairs at home: ITB Asia in Singapore (29 - 31 Oct.) and ASIA FRUIT LOGISTICA in Hong Kong (3 - 5 Sept.). In the space of only a few years each has become a leading industry event in Asia.

Focusing on the user and the digital economy, ’tools’, Messe Berlin’s new trade fair format all about web-based business applications, will debut on 7 and 8 May 2014. This new platform has the user firmly in its sights, and in particular the growing importance of IT for line managers and their specific demands.

The CityCube, the multi-purpose hall for trade fairs and congresses, will be able to host events with up to 11,000 participants and is due to open in May 2014 with the national conference of the Confederation of German Trade Unions (11 -16 May). At the same time the ICC Berlin will terminate operations in order to undergo extensive restoration work.

Further conference highlights await, and immediately afterwards the CityCube will host the World Congress of the International Trade Union Confederation (18-23 May). Numerous large-scale medical congresses will follow, including the Diabetes Congress 2014 (28 - 31 May), the Medicine and Health Congress in the Capital (25 - 27 June) and the annual conference of the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ECNP, 18 - 22 Oct.).

In 2014 Messe Berlin expects its numerous events to attract around 30,000 members of the media from all over the world, who will be providing written and broadcast coverage of the events taking place on the Berlin Exhibition Grounds.