Battle of the Titansat the centre
In the French capital, Unibail and the Parisian chamber of commerce are vying for leadership of the trade fair business. After a huge concentration of forces, there are only two serious players left in the running.
With an annual total turnover of EUR 1.5 billion for the top seven companies alone, Germany hardly need fear yet that its neighbour France will outpace it as the number one global trade fair nation. Nevertheless, Frankfurt's trade fair boss Michael von Zitzewitz warned of the ever more vigorous competition from the west only last December, saying that the cards were being reshuffled and the Germans were being left out.Words to make one sit up and listen. But France is still a long way from leadership with rather sluggish business over the past ten years. According to figures from the OJS (l'Office de justification des statistiques) last published in 2004 in an analysis of activity in the country, the hired square metrage at the 68 reference fairs analysed (84 in 1994) was 1.39 million m2 (1.61 million m2). The number of exhibitors was just over 29,000 (almost 34,000). Roughly 6.3 million (7.2 million) visitors came to the trade fairs and exhibitions staged throughout the country. This looks more like stagnation than rocketing growth.
So what is going on across the Rhine? Last year there was a remarkable concentration in the Parisian region, with mergers of organisers and venue owners. The property fund Unibail, owner of the Paris Expo trade fair site, joined forces with Exposium, France’s leading organiser, who now plans to fill the seven Paris Expo venues in the Ile de France, making full use of synergies, of course, and with some new trade fair themes. At the same time, a new heavy-weight has entered the ring: the Parisian chamber of commerce, majority owner of the Paris Nord-Villepinte and Le Bourget sites together with its partner Comité des Expositions de Paris, has also acquired an organiser, Comexpo.
The scramble for sites and organisers in the Parisian region has probably run its course. The pie has been shared out. There is Unibail & Co with a total turnover of about EUR 330 million and there is the chamber of commerce with its partners with turnovers totalling EUR 220 to EUR 250 million. That makes a combined turnover of easily half a billion euros concentrated in the Ile de France. But that is not yet enough to pose a serious threat to the large German trade fairs.
Paris Expo - Porte de Versailles is the uncontested leader for events. The eight halls sized 5,000 m2 to 70,000 m2 including 32 conference rooms provide 226,000 m2 of space for 100 of the 150 trade fairs, conventions, and events staged in the capital by the Unibail group. Their rivals, the consortium comprising the Parisian chamber of commerce and the Comité des Expositions Paris run 60 events on their two sites, Paris-Nord Villepinte (193,000 m2) and Le Bourget.
Next to strategic development, improvement of the venues is a priority in France just as it is in Germany. To obtain a better standing in international competition, Le Bourget has been undergoing hefty renovation work since 2004. Two halls have been expanded and made shipshape to offer exhibitors the greatest possible column-free space. Hall 5, for example, provides 6,000 m2 of roofed column-free space with a height of 11 metres and can also be used as an event location.
Unibail has also given its Porte de Versailles venue a face lift. In addition to access for the disabled via ramps and lifts in Hall 2, a roof has been erected to make walking in the outdoor area more comfortable for all trade fair visitors.
Activities like these will ensure that Paris maintains its position in international competition. The French capital will continue to play host to the third largest consumer goods fair in the world, Maison et Objets. And events such as the design fair now! and the food fair SIAL are still permanent fixtures in France’s core economic region. No wonder Lyon, Marseilles and Bordeaux are responding with increasing self-confidence to the centralism that is so despised in the provinces.
m+a report Nr.2 / 2006 vom 24.03.2006
m+a report vom 24. März 2006