After the Covid-related rescheduling of the international fitness trade show FIBO from June to November, the team of organizer Reed Exhibitions (RX) has decided to postpone the show again and move it to spring, the original FIBO season. Consequently, it will be held again on a rotational basis in 2022, from April 7 to 10 in Cologne.
RX justifies the new move by citing ongoing uncertainties in travel and business due to pandemic restrictions. „FIBO is traditionally a very international show: in 2019, we had visitors from 133 countries. This internationality is very important, and as we didn’t want to miss out on strong markets like the U.K., we decided to move the event again to April 2022. Before Covid-19, FIBO was always held in the spring, so we’re basically back to where we’ve always been,” says Cornelia Trautenhahn, senior content and PR manager at RX. Before the pandemic, FIBO drew 145,000 visitors, with two consumer days kicking things off, followed by trade visitor days on the weekends.
In the pre-pandemic period, FIBO had about 1,000 exhibitors. For April 2022, the show will occupy seven halls and cover all relevant industry topics such as “Training Equipment,” “Cardio & Strength,” “Wellness & Spa,” “Health Training Equipment” or “Healthy Sports Nutrition” and integrate new areas such as “Mixed Reality Sports” and future innovations, for example in the areas of health, digitalization and nutrition. RX sees an ever-growing demand for fitness products. In addition to global efforts to improve health through exercise, many other important topics such as digitalization, inclusion and diversity are also on the industry’s agenda.
The events planned in parallel to FIBO will be held digitally or live, depending on the size of the audience. The European Health & Fitness Forum (EHFF) will be held digitally on Nov. 3, as will other EuropeActive events such as the European Fitness Associations Forum (EFAF) and the International Standards Meeting (ISM). The President’s Council Summit is expected to be held on-site with a physical on-site inspirational, educational and networking program. Sibec Europe, the buyer event for suppliers and operators originally scheduled to run concurrently with FIBO in Cologne, is working with EuropeActive on plans to host the events on Nov. 2-5. Sibec will provide information about its event shortly.
While RX focuses on relaunching FIBO in spring 2022, the new B2B trade show FitnessConnected (set to debut Nov. 18-20, organized by Sport Connected GmbH and part of the ISPO network) is taking shape, with 61 exhibitors announced on its website to date. RX claims that the decision to move FIBO was independent of the FitnessConnected dates in Munich. In fact, the previous rescheduling to Nov. 4-7 was made when the FitnessConnected dates were already known. „FIBO is a very established and international show, so the only relevant factor for finding the right date was the unrestricted possibility for our exhibitors and visitors to travel to Cologne,” says Trautenhahn.
