With a 4% rise on 2012, 81,000 visiting business professionals from 109 countries visited ISPO MUNICH 2013, which took place from 3-6 February. 66% of the visitors hailed from outside Germany, the majority from Italy, Austria, Switzerland, France and Great Britain.
Klaus Dittrich, Chairman and CEO of Messe München International, said “We experienced the strongest increase from Europe and Asia. We were extremely pleased that Spain has re-joined the list of winners and made the jump back into the top ten countries.”
On the exhibitor side ISPO MUNICH also experienced new growth: 2,481 exhibitors from 52 countries presented their latest products (versus 2,344 visitors from 51 countries in 2012). The net exhibit space increased by 430 sq m to a total of 103,220 sq m.
The gain in visitor numbers and exhibition space has once again helped to validate the role of ISPO MUNICH as a leading international platform for the entire sports industry.
The atmosphere was positive during the four event days. Around 74% of the visitors rated ISPO MUNICH 2013 as ‘excellent’ to ‘very good’; another 24% rated the show as ‘good’. The positive sales results in 2012, experienced by European sports retail in particular, also created an upbeat outlook for the future.
The organisers note that one of the primary reasons for this progress is that sports have gained enormous relevance in the wider health & wellbeing market. The 2nd ISPO Health Forum, held on 5 February at the International Congress Center Munich (ICM), also helped to confirm this development.
When asked about their prognosis for the next twelve months, 45% of the show visitors stated that ISPO MUNICH will continue to gain importance; 50% indicated that the trade show will maintain its high level of importance.
The new service offerings also received positive feedback: the online platform ISPO CONNECT, simplifying contacts and networking between exhibitors and visitors ahead of the show, received a ‘very good’ to ‘good’ rating from 89% of those polled. 93% rated the ISPO AWARD, ‘very good’ to ‘good’. Meanwhile, the new education platform ISPO Academy received a ‘very good’ to ‘good’ rating from 86% of visitors.
Dittrich was pleased with these results. “This allows us to face the future with confidence. Our goal is a strong, further development as a year round full-service provider for the sports industry, to network expertise from all over the world throughout the year, and actively endorse developments and trends in the sports business.”
ISPO MUNICH 2014 will be held from 26-29 January 2014 at Messe München, Germany.
