By 3pm yesterday it had already attracted 21,000 unique visitors, just 1,000 less than Fespa London in 2013 did across it’s entire five days.
This was despite the Cologne show being struck by a train strike on day three. “All the measures we put in place definitely encouraged those that might have been put off, we made it as easy as possible for visitors to come,” said Fespa divisional director Roz McGuinness.
“Of course, ultimately we will never know how many people were put off.”
As a result of the strike ending, the free shuttle service to Cologne, Düsseldorf and Frankfurt airports will not be running today – although the free shuttle service to the Köln Messe/Deutz train station will continue as normal.
With Cologne on course to be a record breaker in terms of numbers, it’s also set to be the most international to date, with 68% of visitors coming from outside of Germany.
The sheer breadth of technology and applications on display and the enlarged educational content also meant that more than 60% of visitors stayed for more than one day, compared to 50% in London.
“We’ve had so much great feedback from visitors and exhibitors, I’ve spoken to some first-time visitors and the feedback was that they were glad they came for more than one day as there was just so much to see and it really did, for them, represent a truly global event,” said McGuinness.
“It’s great that we’re looking to increase numbers on London, but the key was that people are staying longer.”
McGuinness added that the new features such as Printeriors and the increased education content, the growing textile presence across the show had all been well received.
As well as delivering on visitor expectations, the show was also praised by exhibitors, with many reporting brisk sales.
“We sold in volumes; it’s been very successful for us. There’s a lot of business for a lot of companies here,” said EFI chief executive Guy Gecht .
Ronen Zioni, HP marketing director Graphics Solutions Business EMEA, said Fespa had been a fantastic show for HP in terms of sales and lead generation, with the firm’s PageWide experience in particular drawing the crowds.
His comments were echoed by Agfa global communications manager Kristof van Cleemput: “Interest has been quite high, especially with our two Jeti launches. It’s generated a significant amount of sales. The train strike did not deter buyers, just tourists, so we found the potential was high on Wednesday.”
