Reed Exhibitions, organizers of FIBO in Essen, Germany, reports an excellent show last week, reinforcing its position as the major annual fitness equipment and clothing fair in Europe. The number of trade visitors from outside Germany increased by more than 6 percent to represent 28 percent of all the trade visitors. More than 80 percent of them came from Europe, but there were also major contingents from India and Japan.
The show is also becoming more professional. The final figures have not been compiled yet, but preliminary data indicate a total of 47,300 daily visits, up from 45,000 in 2007. Of these, 72 percent were trade visitors, compared with 64 percent in 2006 and 69 percent in 2007.
The number of exhibiting companies grew by 5.1 percent to 476. They included for the first time a dozen fitness-related companies from Italy and a similar number from Spain that showed in collective stands sponsored by the respective national trade associations, Assosport and Afydad, with financial help from their national governments.
These very good scores went hand in hand with the release of statistics showing a big boom in the fitness market in Germany. According to DSSV, the main German association of health and fitness clubs, the number of registered individuals grew last year by nearly 700,000 to 5.25 million, and they will probably grow to around 8 million within the next four to five years. The number of clubs with more than 200 square meters of space increased by 7.1 percent to an estimated 5,960, with some of them charging very little to attract new clients, especially youngsters, and it should hit 7,000 units by 2012.
Making a selection from 60 applications, an independent jury assigned the FIBO Innovation Award this year to Pulse Fitness, SMT Medical and Body Attack. It gave FIBO’s first design award to Gym 80, a German supplier of strength training equipment that makes everything in-house and that was previously on the brink of bankruptcy. It has been revitalized in the last three years under the management of Arie van Winkelhof, a Dutchman who worked for Life Fitness for 17 years, most recently as executive vice president and international director.
