For a fist full of tickets
Interest is waning and the sale of visitors tickets is quickly losing significance for chambers of commerce and trade fairs. While the first chambers have already withdrawn from the business, many trade fairs find selling tickets via the chambers too laborious.
The sale of visitor trade fair tickets is a fast shrinking business for the chambers of commerce. The chambers of Commerce IHK Nordschwarzwald and IHK Berlin have already withdrawn from the business. Other chambers are currently reviewing their position: "Yes, here at the chamber of commerce for Munich and Upper Bavaria we have seriously considered ceasing trade fair ticket sales", the spokeswoman for IHK München tells us. "If interest continues to wane in the future, we, too, will most probably stop the sale of tickets." According to Sabine Gehrig, currently deputy head of services at IHK Berlin, the business of selling trade fair tickets over the counter is no longer important: "I can still remember the big rush in the run-up to CeBIT a few years ago: They just didn't want to stand in the queue in Hanover. Today, the Internet means they no longer need us."
It no longer makes financial sense for the chambers of commerce to offer this service. "I think the chambers will pull out of this business more and more. The costs are too high and do not justify the revenue earned", Andreas Bade, visitor services manager at Deutsche Messe AG in Hanover explains. And that seems to apply not only for the chambers of commerce but also for the trade fairs themselves. For example, Koelnmesse has itself taken the initiative to cease ticket sales via IHK Frankfurt, and NürnbergMesse never sells its tickets via the chambers of commerce.
So it comes as no surprise that the withdrawal of IHK Nordschwarzwald and IHK Berlin from the ticket business has not exactly caused a storm in the trade fair sector. Michael Reichhold who manages Paperworld does not have to fear a drop in the number of visitors to his event: "If you add together all the entrance tickets sold through all the chambers of commerce, chambers of craft trades and associations, they account for no more than 2 % of all Paperworld tickets sold", he says. "With our online ticket service we offer an extremely user-friendly and low-cost alternative. I'm quite sure the future trend will be towards online ticket sales."
Reichhold is not alone in his view. "The Internet will become increasingly attractive", says Deutsche Messe representative Bade. "We will see tickets being equipped with additional features, already today many tickets double up as public transport tickets". The future will also see greater use of the electronic guest ticket. Together with T-Mobile, Bade has also launched a test series for mobile ticketing. This will allow customers to purchase their tickets directly via mobile phone.In the past, Bade has also tested other channels. Last year visitors to the Hanover Fair were able to purchase their tickets from German Rail ticket machines. "We have not yet decided whether to continue this project, but currently it is not possible to purchase trade fair tickets from DB machines." Markus Ridder
m+a report Nr.1 / 2007 vom 13.02.2007
m+a report vom 13. Februar 2007