GERMANY - After a promising re-start in autumn, the 2021 trade fair year in Cologne ended on a conciliatory note. In the months leading up to that, Koelnmesse had to accept significant declines in sales and high losses, as in the previous year.
Despite renewed cancellations and postponements at the turn of the year 2021/2022 due to the pandemic, the company's management is confident about the rest of the year: "Our trade fairs in autumn proved that events on an international level are once again possible and safe for everyone," emphasises CEO Gerald Böse. "We are continuing to focus on stabilisation, making up for the postponed trade shows this year and getting our business back on track."
Only 34 of the 68 trade fairs planned worldwide as part of Koelnmesse's programme took place in 2021. These included 13 of the company's own events in Cologne, 11 guest events and 10 events in 8 countries abroad. Several of the company's own events - h+h cologne, insureNXT I CGN, interzum, gamescom and DMEXCO - were held in purely digital form, while others managed to combine the physical live experience in the trade fair halls with new digital services as hybrid events, thus setting the course for future formats.
The preliminarily turnover in 2021 reached approximately 130 million euro. Thanks to good trade fair results in autumn and the implementation of the vaccination centre along with significant cost-cutting measures, losses remained below 100 million euro.