FIBO, the international trade show for the health and fitness industry in Essen, Germany, reached a new record this year, with a 9.2 percent increase in the number of visitors to 58,100 and a 3.7 percent increase in exhibitors to 581. The exhibition area of 75,000 square meters, the largest yet, was sold out. The show just made its debut in 2005 with 339 companies exhibiting; visitor numbers have jumped by 50 percent since that first year.
Reed Exhibitions, the organizer of the show, says that this indicates the growing trend toward health and fitness and the combining of the two, and FIBO's market research backs that assertion: One in four fitness studios queried at the fair said that it planned to invest in health promotion and expand into that field. More than 20 percent of the trade visitors to the show were in the health profession, working in a physiotherapy practice, rehab clinic or private physician practice.
Also backing up the notion that the health market is booming was the business barometer compiled at FIBO by Wissler & Partner, the Swiss market research firm. It found that 60.3 percent of the participants at the show expected an increase – either strong or slight – in demand for fitness and health services. One in six companies had already ordered installations and training equipment worth more than €200,000, and 6.5 percent had placed orders worth more than €1 million.
Next year's show will be held on April 19-22, still in Essen, before its move to Cologne in 2013.
