Fespa Digital hailed a massive success
13000 visitors attended Fespa Digital and sister show Fespa Fabric last week, a 34% increase over the last Fespa Digital event which took place in 2009 in Amsterdam. Of those who attended this year’s events around 5300 attended the show on more than one day, resulting in a total of 18300 visits. On this basis, more than 40% of all visitors devoted more than a day to the shows (2009: 32%).
New Fespa managing director Neil Felton, who joined the organisation just before the show, said: “When the doors opened on Tuesday, the enthusiasm of the hundreds of printers massed in the Messe atrium was palpable. Visitors from overseas did suffer some significant travel disruption on day two, resulting from the six-hour closure of Hamburg Airport due to the ash cloud from the Grímsvötn volcano. Clearly though, this did not dampen an amazing, truly international event that has exceeded even our most optimistic expectations.”
German printers represented around 45% of the visitor base, followed by particularly strong attendance from the UK, Benelux, Scandinavia, Italy and France. Eastern European markets including Poland, the Czech Republic and Russia were well represented too, and significant visitor delegations from more distant growth markets such as Turkey, India, Brazil and China also contributed strongly to the global profile of the event.