Messe Frankfurt stays on course for €600m sales

dubai — Messe Frankfurt Middle East, a trade fair organiser, has posted a seven per cent increase in both exhibitor and visitor numbers for the first six months of 2015. Parent company Messe Frankfurt Group is eyeing a record global sales target of more than €600 million for the year.

The Dubai-based subsidiary’s six exhibitions between January and June 2015, including Intersec, Paperworld, Leatherworld, Beautyworld, Hardware+Tools Middle East and Automechanika Dubai, featured a combined 5,174 exhibitors from 60 countries, spanning more than 98,000 sqm net of exhibition space.

The six events together attracted 100,425 trade visitors from 130 countries. Excluding Leatherworld Middle East, which was held for the first time in 2015, the total net exhibition space growth year-on-year was 11 per cent.

Messe Frankfurt Middle East is also on course to continue its own double digit growth in sales revenue, which grew by 22 per cent year-on-year in 2014, and at a compound annual growth rate of 17 per cent over the last six years.

“The continued success and steady growth of Messe Frankfurt Middle East’s events is a result of being able to accurately predict and interpret the key trends and requirements of the market,” said Ahmed Pauwels, chief executive officer (CEO) of Messe Frankfurt Middle East.

“It’s also indicative of Dubai’s position as a commerce-driven environment, with world-class economic, social, cultural and technological systems that facilitate international trade, making it an ideal destination for fast-growing exhibitions such as ours.

“Our shows’ footprints cover not only the wider Middle East and African region, but further afield into Central and South Asia, as well as the CIS. We will continue to work together with our exhibiting partners on reaching out to new areas and explore possibilities to expand our current portfolio of events,” added Pauwels.

The second half of 2015 will feature a number of exhibitions and conferences, including Materials Handling Middle East, Light Middle East, the Pediatric Orthopaedic Surgery Conference, the GCC Virology Conference, the BOHS Worker Health Protection Conference and the Light Middle East Conference.

The Messe Frankfurt Group has 29 subsidiaries and organises more than 120 trade fairs in 30 locations around the world.

Our shows’ footprints cover not only MEA, but also Central and South Asia, as well as CIS

Ahmed Pauwels,