Trade Fair Cancellations And Postponements Could Cost The Economy Up To 3 Billion Euros

2023 Author : Hannah Pearcy | [email protected] . Last modified: 2023-06-01 01:49

The Institute of the German Trade Fair Industry at AUMA has extrapolated the effects on Germany for the first time. This is based on calculations by the Ifo Institute on the overall economic importance of German trade fairs in 2018.

Over 24,000 jobs affected

Accordingly, the previously announced cancellations or postponements are expected to result in losses of almost EUR 3 billion for the overall economy. More than 24,000 jobs will then be affected and the tax authorities will lose over EUR 470 million in tax revenue.

The sums mentioned do not include the lost revenue that companies would otherwise have made at trade fairs. These values are many times higher than the sums mentioned above and can only be substituted to a limited extent by other measures. Because no other marketing instrument is able to produce the representation of the company and the products in their breadth and depth through personal contact.

Other branches of industry are also severely affected by the numerous trade fair cancellations and postponements. These include above all the hotel and catering trade, the transport industry and numerous local suppliers and craftsmen. In some of the industries mentioned, there was a considerable drop in sales, which had a direct impact on employees.

"Almost all of the trade fair plans for the next few months are just going to be waste. Organizers, exhibitors, visitors and service providers lose all planning security,”says Philip Harting, Chairman of the Exhibition and Trade Fair Committee of the German Economy (AUMA). "You have high upfront costs with no prospect of corresponding benefits or high acute sales losses. The trade fair industry's contribution of over EUR 28 billion annually to total economic output could decrease by around 10%. It must be ensured that the economy, especially small and medium-sized companies, can continue to use the highly efficient trade fair instrument in the future and that the industry will continue to have strong service providers in the future. This will hardly be possible without government support, despite the industry's great efforts."

Scope of the German trade fair industry

Every year 160 to 180 international and national trade fairs take place in Germany, with around 180,000 exhibitors and 10 million visitors. According to AUMA, this makes Germany the number one trade fair worldwide for the organization of international trade fairs. German exhibiting companies therefore invest almost half of their budgets for business-to-business communication in trade fair participations.

Expenditures by exhibitors and visitors for trade fairs in Germany lead to macroeconomic production effects of over EUR 28 billion. Organizing trade fairs will secure over 230,000 jobs. The trade fair-related tax receipts from the federal, state and local governments reached around 4.5 billion euros per year.

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This article first appeared on our partner portal Elektronikpraxis.de.