30.04.2009

Intermat numbers

Intermat has announced that the show attracted almost 184, 518 visitors last week, of which over a third came from outside of France. This compares with just over 209,000 visitors in 2006 of which 45 percent were from overseas.

Although attendance numbers were down on 2006, they are still almost 10 percent up on the 2003 show, which was dogged by transport strikes.

While the first two days were quiet, the show gained pace during the week with a strong major exhibition ‘buzz’ on Wednesday and Thursday. In total 1,470 exhibitors had stands, 67 percent of which were non-French.

Vertikal Comment

In spite of most exhibitors expecting the worst, the show was not bad, with 185,000 visitors it remains one of the largest equipment shows in the world, however with a greater proportion of the visitors coming from within France and its traditional trading partners, the show will be seen as a regional, rather than a global show.

There is nothing wrong with that, only Bauma can truly claim to be a global show, although statistically the huge number of German visitors attending Bauma actually means that it is proportionately slightly less international than Intermat. However when you are pulling in over half a million visitors percentage comparisons with a show that attracts a third of that are hardly relevant.

While the access manufacturers that did not attend were uncertain if they had missed out, the absent crane companies that we spoke with after they visited the show were sorry not to have been there.

The next Intermat will be held in 2012 which should be an upbeat year and might well prove a good one for the event.