Bauma 2007, the 28th International Trade Fair for Construction Machinery, Building Materials Machinery, Mining Machines, Construction Vehicles and Construction Equipment, took place from April 23 to 29, 2007, at the New Munich Trade Fair Centre, outstripping the last Bauma in 2004 not only in terms of exhibition space but also in exhibitor and visitor numbers.
“Thanks to the joint efforts of the exhibitors, the Exhibitors Advisory Board and the global network of Munich International Trade Fairs, Bauma was able to further expand its leading position as a worldwide platform. Contributing significantly to this success is the global boom in construction — above all in the emerging countries of Asia, Latin America and Africa — and also the pick-up in the construction sector in Europe,” said Manfred Wutzlhofer, chairman and CEO of Messe Munchen.
Bauma 2007 set a new record for visitor numbers — approximately 500,000 attended this year. That represents approximately 20 percent more than 2004. The proportion of visitors from outside Germany increased strongly, reaching approximately 160,000, which is approximately 30 percent of the total.
The rise in interest from abroad was noticed both among visitors from Germany’ s immediate neighbors and among visitors from south and eastern Europe and from overseas — in some cases the rise had been more than 100 percent.
Munich Airport also was able to confirm this growing traffic from abroad, as it registered 120,000 passengers passing through the airport on April 26, 2007 — a new record for the airport.
Among the overseas visitors to Bauma 2007, numbers were particularly high from Australia, Canada, China, India, Japan, Korea, Mexico, South Africa, Southeast Asia (Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam) and the United States. The number of visitors from the Arabian Peninsula — the partner region of Bauma this year — also rose strongly to approximately 2,300.
In total, approximately 190 countries of origin were represented among the trade audience at Bauma 2007. This is an increase of more than 11 percent.
More than 3,000 exhibitors presented their products and services in Munich, which was seven percent more than at the last event in 2004. This total was made up of 1,390 German exhibitors and 1,651 exhibitors from abroad. Germany, Italy and Great Britain were the three strongest contingents of exhibitors at Bauma 2007.
With these record figures for exhibitors and visitor participation, Bauma has met all expectations and in many areas far exceeded them. This is reflected in the top marks exhibitors and trade visitors gave to the fair in a survey conducted by independent pollsters TNS Infratest GmbH.
The survey showed that the quality of trade visitors attending the fair was again very high, as 83 percent of them were decision-makers. In total 97 percent of the visitors said in the survey that they thought the fair had been a resounding success.
As a result, 96 percent of them said they intended to visit the next Bauma. Eighty-six percent of the visitors rated the current situation in the sector as excellent and the same figure — 86 percent — also said they expected the situation to improve still further.
The exhibitors also were highly satisfied with how the fair went in 2007, with 96 percent of them expressing their satisfaction in the survey. Ninety-eight percent intend to exhibit again at the next Bauma.
In particular, the exhibitors praised the leading trade-fair status of Bauma, its international scope and the visitor frequency.
As in the case of the visitors, the exhibitors, too, were very positive about the future — 88 percent stated they viewed the current situation in the sector in Western Europe as positive, and 92 percent are expecting this trend to continue.
What was noticeable was that, in addition to expressing high satisfaction with their achievement of the traditional goals of improving customer relations and promoting their company, many also said they were able to pave the way for, and sign up, unexpectedly large contracts. According to the survey 91 percent of the exhibitors presented innovations at Bauma 2007.
To cater to this demand, Messe Munchen provided 215,278 sq. yds. (180,000 sq m) of hall space and 430,556 sq. yds. (360,000 sq m) of outdoor exhibition space. In comparison to the last Bauma, the exhibition space increased by approximately 10 percent.
The world’s biggest trade fair in terms of exhibition space, with a grand total of 645,835 sq. yds. (540,000 sq m), was fully booked.
Bauma 2007 also was a highly successful showcase for the world’ s largest range of machinery for the mining sector.
“Bauma 2007 and mining has lived up to the high expectations placed upon it. The number and in particular the ’quality’ of the international visitors in the field of mining technology show that Bauma with mining has now firmly established itself as a trade exhibition and that it enjoys a high level of acceptance among the visitors.” said William S. Tate, executive vice president, DBT GmbH, Germany.
For the first time the Bauma FORUM provided information for exhibitors and visitors on the market for construction machinery and on new product developments and in the form of country specials. In more than 60 events in this forum, more than 70 expert speakers discussed the latest developments with 2,400 representatives from the sector.
For seven days Bauma 2007 was a presentation platform for the latest developments and technologies in construction machinery, building-materials machinery, mining machines, construction vehicles and construction equipment.
Bauma placed maximum emphasis on communication and promoting business contacts between manufacturers and users. High-ranking decision-makers and their counterparts met up at this event to intensify and extend their business relations.
“We were already delighted with the last Bauma in 2004. This time it’s even better. The number of contacts, the quality of the talks and the broad international spread among the visitors are overwhelming,” said Christof Kemmann, managing director of BHS-Sonthofen GmbH, Germany and chairman of the VDMA Construction Equipment and Building Material Machinery Association (German Engineering Federation). Kemmann also is chairman of the Exhibitors’ Advisory Board of Bauma.
The next Bauma will take place April 19 to 25, 2010, at the New Munich Trade Fair Centre.
Today's top stories
