Mental barriers removed
Since eastward enlargement of the European Union in May 2004 things have been moving in the accession countries exhibition industry. Meanwhile, neighbouring Romania and Bulgaria are now also busy preparing for admission to the EU in January 2007.
Bulgaria and Romania are set to join the European Union (EU) in January 2007. They still have various conditions to meet, but after that nothing more stands in the way of their accession. Even though combating corruption, for example, will be no easy dictate to comply with.
If experience by the new entrants to the European community in May 2004 is anything to go by, RomExpo or the exhibition companies in Sofia and Plovdiv can rub their hands in eager anticipation. "Bulgaria's imminent EU membership in 2007 aside, the number of foreign exhibitors in particular at trade fairs in Plovdiv has risen steadily since 2001," Natalja Winges, specialist for eastern Europe at The Association of the German Trade Fair Industry, AUMA, reports. A new conference centre was opened 2005 in Plovdiv and the exhibition association BAFEO set up.
It remains to be seen how Sofia will develop. At the moment the Inter Expo Center hosts around 30 special exhibitions. The organisers, the Bulgareklama Agency, registered around 2,970 Bulgarian and international exhibitors from 35 countries at these shows in 2005. Attendance was in the region of 300,000.
Meanwhile, the Romanians are revving up: "Romexpo has signed agreements with more than 20 foreign agencies, whose task will be to attract more foreign exhibitors and visitors to Bucharest. They are also investing heavily in the exhibition site infrastructure. Existing exhibition halls are being modernised, and construction of a new hall with 12,000 m2 of exhibition place is also in the pipeline," Winges says.
Franz Reisbeck, chief executive of Munich-based GHM, which organises crafts fairs, and president of the Central Europe Fair Alliance in 2007, adds that exhibition companies across the board in Romania and Bulgaria are seeking to raise the profile of their trade fair portfolios: "Multi-industry fairs have split up and improved in terms of both their concept and quality. " From a sectoral angle, this has led to a flowering of the exhibition landscape particularly in the segments agriculture and forestry, construction, transport and communications and environmental protection and security.
"Membership of the EU is naturally encouraging the acquisition of shareholdings by west European countries," says Bretislav Fabián, director of the Czech exhibition association SOVA CR, adding that some exhibition companies such as Veletrhy Brno had cultivated excellent contracts with the west long ahead of this, which partly accounted for the significant trade investments. Back in 1998, for example, Messe Düsseldorf purchased a 60 % stake in Brno's exhibition company. "Today Brno is responsible for 80 % of Czech exhibition activities," Winges says. Lucie Zumrova, marketing director at Veletrhy Brno, explains: "Our exhibition company has unquestionably gained in prestige. As part of the Messe Düsseldorf group we have access to the ‘upper echelons of the European exhibition industry. The partnership, based on a dovetailing corporate strategy and the exhibition know-how that we share, creates a strong brand." Clients can thus be confident of finding a service range meeting the highest European standards. "So even after the new EU member states accession Brno is able to play its role successfully in brokering business between companies from the west and visitors from the east," she insists. Deutsche Messe in Hanover can also envisage making its experience available on the Czech market, although the Hanoverians held back from a financial commitment to the projected expansion of the Letnany Exhibition Centre in Prague. Its owners, ABF and the municipal authorities, cast around for an investor for a long time but now seem to have found one in the SP Group, Prague, whose chief executive Pavel Sehnal is prepared to put money on the table for reorganisation, extension and the construction of new halls. The SP Group is already majority shareholder, but as so often in the east, things are being held up by the wait for planning permission. A new-build is also projected at Incheba Praha, but for the time being officials there are biding their time and watching to see what their rival can accomplish.
Whereas fairs in Prague are mainly of regional provenance, Brno earns points with the label "international" at more than 50 % of its trade shows. Grzegorz Turkiewicz from Poland explains what exactly "international" means for an east European exhibition company. The deputy chairman of Poznan International Fair elaborates: "3,000 international companies from 60 countries take part each year in our fairs. That is more than half (56 %) of all Poland's international exhibitors." All told, around 11,000 companies use Poznan's fairs as a platform, attracting 315,000 visitors each year. 54 % of Poland's total stand space is rented there. Turkiewicz is convinced that the country's EU accession was enormously important for Poland's economy and for Poznan International Fair. "Mental barriers between Poland and the west European countries could be removed at last," he states with satisfaction.
Besides growth in the number of west European companies at the fairs in the city on the Warta River, he has identified considerably more Russians, Ukrainians and, indeed, Chinese businesses. "Businesspeople are aware of the expanding Polish market's huge receptivity for their products and services." This plays to the advantage of the shows in the old commercial city, particularly since it has traditionally been the centre of Poland's industry, trade and research. While it remains the undisputed premier exhibition location, Warsaw is also hosting an increasing number of fairs. The major organisers are the Biuro Reklamy Poland S.A. Warsaw Exhibition Board, Miedzynarodowe Targi - Polska Sp. z o.o. and Expomedia Poland. Since September 2001 the roughly 50 fairs taking place there each year can additionally book the 10,000 m2 of exhibition space provided by Warsaw International Expocentre EXPO XXI.
The positive impact of EU membership can also be statistically underpinned. Whereas the Polish exhibition association PVK puts the number of corporate exhibitors in 2003 at 24,009, by 2005 this figure had already reached 27,630. Turkiewicz confirms that "the number of exhibitors is growing faster than the net exhibition space available". In 2003 total space of 438,190 m2 was rented out, in 2005 this climbed 12 % to 525,100 m2. "With a bumper increase of 24 % on 2004, more than 918,000 visitors were recorded at the fairs in 2005," Winges adds. For Poland it was particularly important to notch up expansion in all categories once again. In 2003 AUMA was still reporting: "Year for year since 1999 the Polish exhibition industry has suffered declining sales."
The Slovak Republic, on the other hand, has seen virtually no change between 2003 and 2005. Neither Agrokomplex in Nitra nor Incheba Bratislava has been given a lift by eastward enlargement of the EU. According to Centrex - the International Exhibition Statistics, both exhibition companies still post net exhibition space of around 100,000 m2, count roughly 2,800 exhibitors a year and welcome 270,000 attendees - despite annual gross domestic product growth of 6 %. Perhaps the roughly 50,000 km2 large country simply needs more time to project the economic upswing onto existing exhibition platforms and the new ones that will then surely emerge. "
m+a report Nr.7 / 2006 vom 27.10.2006
m+a report vom 27. Oktober 2006