Germany, being a popular trade expo destination is credited due to many reasons and most importantly the integration of its history, geography, and economics together. There is no dearth of expos happening and occurring in Germany like the Hanover Trade Fair, the world’s largest trade fair grounds. As an exhibition stall designers company, festivals in Germany, where, footfall even in B to B event even rises to exaggerate levels of 200,000.
Hanover is not an exceptional city there are many other centers of exhibition and expos in Germany, that is internationally acclaimed and popular. If Frankfurt is popular for auto shows and book fairs, then Dusseldorf is recognized well for its boat show and Berlin is quite recognized for tourism fairs.
The magnitude of Germany’s expo market can be estimated from the factor that it holds approximately 150 international trade fairs a year accumulating to about 180,000 exhibitors and 10 million visitors. According to an estimation by the Association of the German Trade Fair Industry (AUMA), two third of the world’s leading trade fairs take place in Germany.
However, history, geography, and economics combined have caused Germany to be a leader in trade expos and industries. It is during the Middle Ages that all the major trade routes passed from Germany, where, hubs were created at Frankfurt, Leipzig, and other commercial entrepots. The first rail lines laid at the same routes as well as highways too.
With the Northern Renaissance arriving in Germany, technological inventions become a driver of the fairs in the city. The first Frankfurt Book Fair followed on the heels of Johannes Gutenberg’s invention of the printing press in nearby Mainz.
The political situation of early-modern Germany too helped in creating the culture of expos in Germany as well as growing ground for exhibition stand builders in Germany. Indifferent to central Britain or France, the German-speaking lands center of religious activities under the Holy Roman Empire. However, Frankfurt was a free city at that time and was developed as a commercial and financial center. Cities like Nuremberg, Hamburg, Bremen, and Lübeck became the special economic zones of that era.
After the industrial revolution of the 19th century, Germany became the continent’s manufacturing powerhouse, the trade shows become larger in size with this new economy. Germany’s fairs are a massive business with combined revenue of three billion euros a year.