Messe Frankfurt is looking ahead to the coming financial year 2022 with cautious optimism. Speaking at the End-of-Year Press Talk earlier today, Wolfgang Marzin, President and Chief Executive Officer of Messe Frankfurt, said: “We are registering a very strong desire on the part of our customers to participate in our trade fairs, even though the situation remains volatile and there is much uncertainty in the sectors.”
While some 150 trade fairs and exhibitions were held around the world under the Messe Frankfurt banner before the pandemic, provisional figures for the current financial year 2021 indicate less than half this figure. In the first half of the year, in which a high proportion of Group trade fairs are usually held, it was scarcely possible for any events to take place, especially at the company’s Frankfurt base. Outside Germany, events were repeatedly postponed at the Group’s 50 or so locations around the world; in other cases, trade fairs that had been planned as analogue events were held in digital form instead. This means that, for the second year in a row, Messe Frankfurt has had to contend with a pandemic. Accordingly, the company expects sales to be in the region of €140 million and the Group result to be even lower than in the previous financial year.
“For years, Messe Frankfurt has set one record after the next,” said Peter Feldmann, Chairman of the Messe Frankfurt Supervisory Board and Mayor of Frankfurt: “The coronavirus brought us to an abrupt halt. But we have a strong team of 2,300 employees with strong management at the helm. Rather than burying their heads in the sand when the crisis hit, they rolled up their sleeves instead. With new concepts and future-oriented trade fairs like Eurobike, Messe Frankfurt is ideally positioned for the post-coronavirus market. As the company’s shareholders, the City of Frankfurt and the federal state of Hesse are behind it 100 per cent. We will do everything we can to ensure that the company gets through the crisis in good shape. Messe Frankfurt can rely on us.”
After being forced to put the brakes on – or, at best, to remain in second gear – for almost two years, Messe Frankfurt wants to get started again in the new year. Wolfgang Marzin: “Even though the situation remains volatile, we are going into the new financial year with cautious optimism.” Feedback from customers, particularly international ones, has been very positive. Uwe Behm: “In recent weeks, we activated all of our halls again, meaning that our entire exhibition grounds were in operation.” For cost reasons, five halls were not included in the network in recent months.
With around 30 new events currently scheduled to make their debut between now and 2025, Messe Frankfurt is continuing to invest within Germany and worldwide. On behalf of the Federal Ministry of Economics, the company is also organising joint German activities at selected international events. More than 20 German pavilions will be set up in the coming year. In addition, Messe Frankfurt will be playing host to new guest events at its Frankfurt base in 2022, including Chemspec Europe, Enlit Europe and Parcel & Post Expo.
