Austria: Messen Austria is confident

The exhibition landscape in the Alpine republic is moving forward. Infrastructure is growing, organisers are developing new themes. The exchange of experiences is also being pushed.

Since the beginning of December 2014 Werner Roher has been the new chairman of the Messen Austria association. The Managing Director of Messe Wieselburg took over the office as scheduled from Johann Jungreithmair, who held the position for two years. Roher leads a robust exhibition association with twelve organisers as members. Austria as a venue for exhibitions developed well in 2014, despite the difficult economic times in Europe. The exhibition pro is just as confident for 2015. “The willingness of the owners to invest remains,” he says. Thus, expansion and modernisation measures for infrastructure – as most recently in Ried and Wels – have been continued. At present, approximately 30 million Euros are being pumped into the renovation of the exhibition centre in Dornbirn. Next year the premiere of Saltex will be celebrated in the new halls there from 7 to 9 June 2016. The trade fair will focus on intelligent textiles and solutions for the industrial production of fibre composites. It brings together know-how from the fields of textiles, plastics, and mechatronics.

The “forward-moving strategy” was also recently demonstrated by the re-designed agricultural show Agraria Wels, now converted into a pure trade fair, as Werner Roher stresses. And Messe Wieselburg will open this year on 15 and 16 November a new communications platform for the organic sector: Bio Austria. Roher expects up to 5,000 end consumers and 3,000 professional visitors from Austria and the neighbouring countries. Another crowd-puller for the Alpine region will be launched by Reed Exhibitions at Messe Wien. Two months before Christmas they will premiere a winter opening in the country’s capital. The experiential event concept is based on a mix of exhibition and action areas. Manufacturers and suppliers will introduce new equipment for winter sports and display trends in sportswear and accessories. In addition, numerous holiday and winter sports resorts will present their travel offers for the winter season 2015/2016. Food from the corresponding regions will round out the show.

In the future, the new chairman of Messen Austria wants to continue expanding cooperation among the exhibition centres. “The exchange of ideas, which is already intensively practised in marketing or in technology and infrastructure, will be strengthened between exhibition project managers, for instance,” emphasises Werner Roher. Independent of where exhibition venues are located, they face similar challenges. The sharing of experiences can help to cope with these tasks, he believes. After all, positive solutions can be helpful for other venues in a corresponding relationship of trust. The fact that this trust already exists is highlighted by positive examples of cooperation, such as the “Trends of Beauty” organised by Messe Congress Graz. The cosmetics exhibition is held annually in the spring in Graz; in the autumn it alternates between Vienna and Salzburg (www.messen-austria.at).

The Austrian exhibition construction firm System Standbau was able to expand its position as market leader in Austria in 2014. New customer acquisition and the servicing of large conferences in Vienna have contributed positively. No wonder then that Rudolf Angermayr, Managing Director of System Standbau Salzburg and of Vienna Expoxx, is pleased with the results. “In retrospect, the exhibition year 2014 was marked by the selective exhibition participation of customers,” summarises Angermayr the past year. The trend towards trade fairs continues unbroken and the quality demands of exhibitors for the stand continued to rise in 2014 – in contrast to the respective trade fair budget. “The economic outlook for 2015 is only cautiously optimistic,” reports the Managing Director of System Standbau. “However, we are convinced that we will be able to significantly improve our position, also outside of Austria, thanks to our high performance and to our quality standards,” states Rudolf Angermayr confidently. Crucial for his company, he believes, are proximity to customers, a highly motivated staff, and their own workshops, which make rapid response times possible. In addition to loyal new customers, he expects a significant increase in turnover in 2015 from biennial Austrian exhibitions scheduled for this year. The wood and handicraft trade fair BWS, for example, is scheduled for this year’s exhibition calendar – just like the PowerDays, Austria's only exhibition for the electrical installation industry. In Germany, orders from the ISH in Frankfurt and the Anuga in Cologne will supplement revenues. Angermayr and his team have just closed in January another highlight, the Vienna Auto Show. Further tasks will follow for the Reed subsidiary (www.systemstandbau.at).