Trade fair country with new vigour

Austria is up and coming. One reason are its excellent contacts in central and eastern European countries.

Is Austria a tradeshow featherweight by European standards? "It depends on your perspective", argues Johann Jungreithmair. "If you are just measuring by absolute exhibitor and attendance figures at individual events or site sizes, that may be the case, but adjust the figures for the size of Austria relative to the size of Germany (1:10 by number of inhabitants) and you get a different perception", says the CEO of Reed Exhibitions Austria. But that is beside the point: "The only real success factor is how I can optimally reach my target group as a vendor." An this is where an Austrian trade exhibition (with national or interregional orientation and the typical Austrian small and medium-sized business structure) is much better targeted than an international flagship trade fair in Germany or Italy. Having a manageable size and therefore being both feasible and representative of the market, being the sector's meeting place and reflecting societal aspects - that has strengthened the Austrian trade fair industry over the past three decades. "There must be a reason why the exhibition venue Salzburg is flourishing despite the relative proximity of Munich, Milan and Zurich."
"The Austrian tradeshow organisers are recognised specialists in topic-oriented shows for the general public and specialist tradeshows with a national and ‘cross-border' format. We have found an attractive niche for ourselves," agrees Walter Dermuth, president of Kärntner Messe, Klagenfurt. Manfred Grubauer, Messe Linz, sees big opportunities for the supposed "featherweight" when it comes to quality over quantity. One of the strengths is the economic power of Austria as a location.
The events have several advantages over the global flagship fairs: the offer is compact (trade visitors can see it all in a day), and quality contacts between "buyers" and "sellers" really do happen. Brigitte Dallinger, Messe Wels: "Austria is and will always be an important market for many international vendors and has gained in importance thanks to excellent contacts with central and eastern European countries." And let's not forget the mentality. According to Roland Falger, director of Dornbirner Messe, "the Austrian mentality even comes out in tradeshow professionals. At our trade fair events at any rate, we are forever hearing, to our pleasure, that a good, strong personal relationship with the exhibitors is very much appreciated." Jungreithmair also insists on another point: the secondary qualities for which Austria is famous. "Continuing business talks away from the hubbub of the exhibition, gastronomy, hotels and culture that stand global comparison, all surrounded by breathtaking scenery - in short, business combined with well-being in a safe country, this successful combination distinguishes Austria as an exhibition location." If you also consider the central geographic location, Austria may be small but it is an ideally situated trade fair country with new vigour, is the organisers unanimous appraisal.
The transition from public exhibitions to trade exhibitions is not easy. Roland Falger: "The Dornbirner Messe, incidentally the only private tradeshow organiser to have its own site in Austria, and the trade fair organisers in the other provinces live off public exhibitions - with the possible exception of the Reed locations Salzburg and Vienna. Launching new trade fairs takes substantial investments which, in Dornbirn, can be financed by the traditional public exhibitions." "His" tradeshows in the German-speaking countries have gained international importance over the years. The best known fairs in Dornbirn include art bodensee, Gloria and the engineering fair intertech. art bodensee, which has been held since 2001, was developed jointly with art galleries in Germany and Austria. "Quality, atmosphere, and the prices of the artworks have founded the international reputation of this small but high-quality art show - the only one held in mid summer," says Falger. With 200 exhibitors and 10 000 visitors, Gloria is already a permanent fixture in the life of Christians although it is only being staged for the sixth year. "The mixture of trade and church make Gloria unique." After 16 years, intertech is successfully established in the Lake Constance - Alpine Region, and now attracts around 400 exhibitors and 15 000 visitors. "With new exhibitions like the industrial health and safety exhibition Preventa (since 2001) or the public transport show PublicTrans (as from 2006), Dornbirner Messe makes use of its location in the high-purchasing-power border region straddling Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Germany and Austria."
Innsbruck is looking forward, too. Chief executive Georg Lamp describes his vision: "The trade fair venue Innsbruck must develop into an all-year business." Realising this vision will take a few more investments but "thanks to various cooperative agreements, and some events of our own, we will intensify the exhibition business and make it to the top of Austria's ranking."
Messe Wels is also doing good business and is set to expand its capacity next year to raise its infrastructure to an international level. "With our new 20 000 m2 multifunctional exhibition hall, we will be able to provide optimum facilities for trade exhibitors and outside organisers alike and can realise our market potential by means of customer focus and our central geographic position", rejoices Brigitte Dallinger, who sees Messe Wels among Austria's big three trade fair sites within ten years. The biggest and most important trade fairs in Wels include the autumn Herbstmesse, Agraria and the Energiesparmesse. "Austria's flagship trade fair for agriculture draws a remarkable amount of business from abroad and the frequency of high-quality visitors is enormous," states the tradeshow boss, who is glad that "the Energiesparmesse is developing positively as a platform for modern, energy-efficient building and renewable energy. A topic for the future, especially with today's energy prices."
The international wood fair in Klagenfurt radiates far beyond the borders of Austria. More than 20 % of trade attendance is foreign. Its catchment area includes southern Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovakia, Hungary and the Czech Republic.
The Klagenfurters are not the only ones to benefit from EU expansion. The exhibition site Graz is also favoured by its geographical position close to the markets of central and south-eastern Europe. The organisers are skilful at using this advantage and are busy adding topics to their event portfolio. "People are beginning to notice that something is on the move at Graz. We are making tracks," says Nilly Nail, chief executive of messecentergraz Betriebsgesellschaft. The extended convention centre with a capacity for 1500 convention guests opened for business in March. Additional investments in the trade fair and convention infrastructure to the tune of EUR 58 million are planned to enhance conditions in Graz still further over the next few years. Erection of the new fair pavilion 1 will contribute to that.
Here too, new tradeshows are being set up. The last one to be added at Graz was the first Austrotec, staged in June. The International Trade Fair for Production, Automation and Quality Assurance - a spin-off of the German P.E.Schall GmbH - was a "remarkable success" with 275 exhibitors and more than 4200 trade visitors, the project manager Hildegard Fischer reported. Together with sector representatives, the image of Austrotec is be bolstered and further developed. Nilly Nail: "The automotive sector will be playing a central role in 2007, too." messecentergraz chalked up another success with Impact, the tradeshow for marketing, sales, and customer relations, held for the second time in June. Reed Exhibitions was forced to cancel its Publica, which was scheduled for April in Vienna, so great was the appeal of the new Impact. And that is not the only grief Nail, who has been in Graz for two years, has caused his former employer: Gastronomia, the exhibition for professional caterers, is scheduled to premiere from 10 to 13 September, 2006. The boss of this tradeshow is Evelyn Straitz, who has excellent contacts in the gastronomy and hotel business: She was responsible for the "Gast" fairs for Reed Exhibitions for many years. Straitz is convinced "Gastronomia is going to be a resounding success. We are focusing on the south-east Austrian and the ‘EU region of the future' (which unites neighbouring regions of Austria, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia and Hungary). There is great interest in a professional and innovative tradeshow here".
EU expansion only occurred around one and a half years ago and it is still too early to draw conclusions. But Johann Jungreithmair is also convinced: "The beginnings have been promising and the opportunities are huge."

m+a report Nr.6 / 2005 vom 23.09.2005
m+a report vom 23. September 2005