From start- up entrepreneurs, to dealers and decision-makers in mid-sized enterprises, and on up to leaders of large corporations: all in all 42,720 industry visitors made their way to Lake Constance for the 25th edition of Eurobike. This compares to 45,870 in 2016. An additional 34,400 bike fans (2015: 20,730) also ventured to Friedrichshafen in Germany for Eurobike 2016.
Klaus Wellmann, CEO of Messe Friedrichshafen, summed things up by saying, “With the new Festival Days as a complement to the international professional exchange, the Eurobike is celebrating the fascination of biking at a whole new level. Everyone was able to experience the important role that bicycle-based mobility is assuming in society.”
Eurobike Head Stefan Reisinger added “We are pleased with this strongly communicative show for the 25th anniversary and that we have also been able to increase international participation, with visitors coming from 106 countries.”
A release from Eurobike added that the presence of almost all of the market’s leading companies – 1350 exhibitors from around the world were on hand for the show’s anniversary edition – as well as the high-quality offerings from all segments of the bike industry, helped to generate strong visitor interest.
Crowds were plentiful at exhibitor stands. Thus, for example, Siegfried Neuberger, Managing Director of the Zweirad Industrie Verband (ZIV), the German bicycle industry association, spoke about the success of the show. He said, “We were convinced by the Eurobike 2016 – including its new concept. That is our impression and that is what we also heard from many of our members.”
Riese & Mu?ller CEO Sandra Wolf emphasized the importance of the show: “For us, there is no question that we will go to the Eurobike. It is the leading trade show for the bike industry, not just in the German-speaking world, but internationally. This is where we meet interested parties from across Europe and around the world.
“The new concept for the show paid off, because it made logistics much easier. The new hall layout is excellent for us, because we now have more space available. For us, the Eurobike is not only a trade show for orders, it is also a platform for us to present ourselves. We have been able to welcome many of our established customers, as well as new people, some of whom come from very different sectors, who are interested in our products.”
Eurobike was once again a magnet for the international media: with 1766 media representatives attending from 41 countries.
“For me, the Eurobike is a way to advertise ourselves and the industry gets a lot of media attention here,” Hebie Executive Director Dirk Niermann said about the anniversary show, which has experienced a rise in the past 25 years.
Eurobike Head Stefan Reising explained, “In the last decades, we have experienced an almost constant increase in our visitor numbers. Now we have registered a decline for the first time, primarily among German trade visitors. The reasons for this range from how the season has gone so far, to increased competition from a growing number of events put on by manufacturers themselves.
“We have received extensive feedback about our new concept and have spoken a lot with our customers about the future orientation and development of the show. One result of these discussions is that next year, the appeal to consumers will be concentrated on one Festival Day on Saturday.
“This means that the Eurobike 2017 will take place from Wednesday, August 30 to Saturday, September 2, that is without the originally planned Sunday.”
Bernhard Lange, Managing Director of Paul Lange & Co added, “For us, the 25th Eurobike was certainly a good show. We had very good discussions and we could tell that the mood among retailers is definitely positive – also because of the weather, which thankfully has improved in the last few weeks. However, it also must be said that we have sensed a drop in the number of German trade visitors.”
At this year’s show, the Eurobike Festival Days offered infotainment centred on new bike trends, drawing 34,400 visitors to Lake Constance on the weekend.
“For two days, the industry celebrated the bicycle theme together with all of the bike fans. The response has been very positive and we were able to set the right momentum to get more people onto bikes in the future,” Eurobike Project Leader Dirk Heidrich said about the new concept.
Over 3000 bikes were available for test rides in the Demo Area. On top of that, there were shows and performances with stars from the bike scene, live concerts from internationally popular bands, and presentations and workshops as well as races, excursions and parties.
Anne Schmidt from bike manufacturer Croozer said “The consumer days are very important to us – aside from the fact that it is just fun to show the products to users. That’s what it was absolutely clear to us that we would participate in the two consumer days.”
The 26th Eurobike will take place next year from Wednesday 30 August to Saturday 2 September 2017.
www.eurobike-show.de
www.eurobike-festivaldays.de
