2.5 million foreign visitors: Germany leading trade fair venue worldwide

30.07.2025

Germany is the leading trade fair location worldwide - also in terms of the high levels of internationality on exhibitor and visitor side, according to the association of the German trade fair industry AUMA.

Last year alone, 2.46 million people came from abroad to the 176 national and international trade fairs in Germany - which corresponds to a foreign share of 34 percent. No other trade fair country attracts as many visitors from abroad. In the previous year, this figure was 33 per cent. This is shown by recent surveys conducted by AUMA. Europe is also the center of the global trade fair industry, as the International Association of the Exhibition Industry UFI currently reports: More than 100 million people from Europe and around the world visited trade fairs on the continent in 2024 - that's a third of all trade fair visitors worldwide.

Specifically, most trade fair visitors in Germany recently came from the Netherlands (211,000), Italy (176,000), Austria (152,000), Switzerland (148,000) and China (120,000), according to AUMA ahead of the industry's annual top meeting in Berlin. The guest of honour at the annual meeting was Gitta Connemann, Parliamentary State Secretary to the Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy and Federal Government Commissioner for SMEs.

Trade fair Germany also remains the leader in terms of exhibitors at national and international trade fairs between Husum and Friedrichshafen, Essen and Leipzig: a total of 107,370 foreign companies exhibited here in 2024. The leading exhibitor nation is the People's Republic of China (20,630 companies), followed at some distance by Italy (10,690), the Netherlands (around 5,020), Turkey (4,920) and France (4,820).

Philip Harting, chairman of the association of the German trade fair industry AUMA: "Germany as a trade fair venue is the meeting place for the global economy. The international audience in particular is our biggest fan. People from all over the world make trade fair Germany buzz. We are and will remain the most international location. We are calling on the German government to support us with an activating economic policy: significantly less bureaucracy, consistent digitalisation of public administration, especially when it comes to issuing visas."

A total of 322 trade fairs took place in 2024 - including 176 international and national events, 138 regional events and eight new events. All key figures show clear growth compared to the respective previous events: The 70 trade fair venues in Germany provided a platform for more than 204,000 exhibiting companies (+9.2 per cent). Over 11.7 million visitors were counted (+3.2 per cent). Stand space also increased significantly to almost 7.2 million square metres (+7.2 percent). The plus signs are remarkable because more than 50 events were affected by strikes in rail transport, local public transport and at airports in the first quarter, which was difficult for trade fairs. According to AUMA estimates, this resulted in up to 250,000 fewer visitors - an average decline of eleven per cent.

More than 310 trade fairs will be held in Germany in 2025, including more than a dozen new events on topics such as care, energy and construction. German trade fair venues are planning to invest heavily in modernising and developing their infrastructures by 2029. The aim is to improve the service for exhibiting companies and visitors and to fulfill sustainability goals and high digital standards. According to AUMA calculations, more than 770 million euro will be invested in this across Germany.