Three million visitors a year and more than 54,000 exhibiting companies from 122 countries: Koelnmesse has been in business for 100 years. The trading centre on the Rhine is one of the largest in the world. With the new Confex centre, Koelnmesse is increasing its conference capacity by more than 6,000 people.
We talked to CEO Gerald Böse about the new Confex conference centre and the plans for the future of Koelnmesse.
We have recovered well from our worst crisis since the Second World War. During the coronavirus pandemic, we were effectively banned from working, but the last few financial years have shown that interest in trade fairs remains. Humans are social beings – that doesn't change. Overall, we are doing very well again, almost back to the level we were at before the pandemic.
The Cologne exhibition centre is the third largest in Germany and among the top ten in the world. We are also one of the most international trade fair centres in the world, with around 54 per cent of our visitors and around 80 per cent of our exhibitors coming from abroad. The wide range of hotels and restaurants makes Cologne even more attractive as a trade fair location.
Absolutely. The new Confex is a hybrid of conference centre and exhibition hall, which makes it much more flexible than our classic halls. Now, more than 6,000 conference guests can meet at the same time, a size for which there was previously no option in Cologne. We want to invest around a billion euros in the expansion and modernisation of our exhibition grounds by 2040. The aim is to become the most attractive downtown exhibition centre in the world.
With Confex, Cologne will for the first time be able to bring together more than 6,200 congress guests in one place; 4,300 in the Confexhall alone, which can be divided into three sections. In addition, there are 22 rooms of various sizes, and further rooms and areas can be added to Confex by connecting it to other halls.
Behind the scenes at Koelnmesse GmbH, around 700 employees are currently working on the realisation of more than 50 events in Cologne alone. These events are the world's leading trade fairs for more than 25 sectors and include Anuga, ISM and gamescom.
Cologne's trade fairs are among the most international in the world: On average, around 80 percent of exhibitors and more than 50 percent of visitors come from abroad. And Koelnmesse is also expanding internationally. With subsidiaries and representative offices in more than 100 countries, it organises trade fairs in North and South America and Asia, including interzum guangzhou and THAIFEX - Anuga Asia.
With some 400,000 square metres of indoor and outdoor space, the Cologne exhibition centre is one of the world's top ten. Eleven exhibition halls, two conference centres and an outdoor area of 100,000 square metres provide space for trade fairs, conferences, meetings and events.
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