In sheer numbers, Germany is undoubtedly the world’s leading trade fair venue. According to data from the Association of the German Trade Fair Industry (AUMA), in 2024, Germany attracted 2.46m foreign visitors to 176 national and international events last year.
The foreign visitor share rose to 34% in 2024, up from 33% the previous year. No other country draws as many international trade fair visitors, according to the Association of the German Trade Fair Industry (AUMA).
Most overseas visitors came from the Netherlands (211,000), Italy (176,000), Austria (152,000), Switzerland (148,000) and China (120,000).
Germany also leads in international exhibitors, hosting 107,370 foreign companies across its trade fairs. China topped the exhibitor list with 20,630 companies, followed by Italy (10,690), the Netherlands (5,020), Turkey (4,920) and France (4,820).
Europe dominates the global trade fair industry, with more than 100m people visiting continental events in 2024 – representing a third of all trade fair visitors worldwide.
Philip Harting, chairman of AUMA, said: “Germany as a trade fair venue is the meeting place for the global economy. The international audience in particular is our biggest fan. People from all over the world make trade fair Germany buzz.”
He continued: “We are calling on the German government to support us with an activating economic policy: significantly less bureaucracy, consistent digitalisation of public administration, especially when it comes to issuing visas.”
The sector showed strong growth despite transport strikes affecting more than 50 events in the first quarter. A total of 322 trade fairs took place in 2024, featuring over 204,000 exhibiting companies (+9.2%) and 11.7m visitors (+3.2%). Stand space increased significantly to almost 7.2m sqm (+7.2%).
More than 310 trade fairs will be held in Germany in 2025, including over a dozen new events covering care, energy and construction. German venues plan to invest more than €770m by 2029 to modernise infrastructure and meet sustainability and digital standards.
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