Once again new records for Bau 2017
For the first time ever, 80 000 of the more than 250 000 visitors who attended Bau 2017 were from abroad. As a result, Bau, the World‘s Leading Trade Fair for Architecture, Materials and Systems, managed once again to make significant gains at the international level (2015: 72 000 visitors).
With more than 65 000 visitors from architecture and planning offices, Bau managed yet again to solidify its reputation as a trade fair for architects.
Once again, the Top 10 countries of visitor origin included three countries from outside the EU: Turkey (3055 visitors/2015: 3 716), Russia (2 868/2015: 2 500) and China. The already large number of Chinese trade visitors increased once again (2 235 visitors/2015: 2 096), and China improved its ranking in the Top 10. Once again, neighboring countries Austria (11 520 visitors), Switzerland (5 243) and Italy (5 013) topped Bau‘s list of visitor countries. The list of countries with the largest increases in the number of visitors shows that awareness about Bau is growing, even outside Europe. They include South Korea (1 301 visitors/+42 %), the USA (792 visitors/+40 %) and India (803/+59 %).
Exhibitors were pleased with the internationality, quality and diversity of the trade visitors
The halls and exhibition stands were full from day one. As always, the halls were characterized by elaborately designed stand presentations – many two-stories high. The visitors that could be seen and heard at the stands came from around the world. The 2 120 exhibitors from 45 countries were well prepared.
Bau‘s position as number one in the industry was also verified by a survey of exhibitors conducted by market research institute Gelszus: According to the survey, nearly all exhibitors (98 %) gave Bau a rating of good to excellent. Its character as a leading exhibition was recognized on a broad front (95 %). 95 % of exhibitors gave it top marks for quality, 91 % for the share of international visitors. Less surprising: This time exhibitors gave the current state of the economy better marks than in 2015. 91 % – compared to 81 % two years ago – gave it a rating of good to excellent. Exhibitors also confirmed that the willingness to make concrete business deals has improved compared to 2015. Almost all exhibitors (98 %) plan to participate again in 2019.
96 % of the visitors plan to attend again in two years
The results of the visitor survey remained stable at the highest level. Further improvement is hardly possible in this case, as well. As in 2015, 98 % of visitors who attended Bau gave it a rating of good to excellent, and 96 % plan to attend again in two years. Visitors gave the fair top marks for the scope and completeness of its exhibits (98 % good to excellent) and for the presence of market leaders (95 %). Visitor satisfaction was between 90 and 100 % in all categories. 95 % of visitors reported reaching their most important goal, which was to gather information about new developments. That was slightly more than in 2015. Nearly all visitors, exactly 95 %, were trade visitors, and 62 % said that they held management positions.
The next Bau will feature two new halls when it takes place at the Messe München trade fair center from January 14 to 19, 2019. The trade-fair center will then have
200 000 m2 of exhibition space.
