Following a successful new start in China, Messe Frankfurt now reports holding physical events successfully in Japan and France.
February’s Beautyworld Japan Fukuoka, the largest beauty tradefair in the Kyushu region, and Texworld Evolution Showroom Paris, each made face-to-face business encounters possible while complying with hygiene and safety standards.
Beautyworld Japan Fukuoka was the German organiser’s first physical event in the 2021 calendar year, with preliminary attendance figures showing 122 exhibitors and 3,818 visitors coming to discover the latest trends and products in the fields of cosmetics, perfumes, personal care and wellness.
Wolfgang Marzin, president and chief executive officer of Messe Frankfurt, said: “We tradefair organisers are still prohibited from pursuing our profession in Germany. No one knows what the future holds, and it would be irresponsible to pretend otherwise. Yet following the resumption of tradefair operations in China last year, we have now demonstrated with our events in Japan and France that tradefairs can be held in compliance with hygiene and safety standards.”
Stephan Buurma, managing director Asia, Messe Frankfurt added: “The success of these events makes it clear that tradefairs can also be held in Japan during the pandemic. The event followed up on the success of its sister event Beautyworld Japan West, which was in held October 2020 with 224 exhibiting companies and over 22,000 visitors.”
The organiser also reported there had been 3,235 enquiries from visitors at Texworld Evolution Paris, which welcomed 500 buyers and experts from the fashion, textile and apparel industries to Atelier Richelieu in early February. The showrooms had 2,500 selected samples from 75 international manufacturers and organisers invited attendance via advance reservations for specific admission slots. Visitors to the showroom enjoyed direct contact with manufacturers, placing many orders.
Frédéric Bougeard, president of Messe Frankfurt France said: “The sourcing necessities of the fashion industry will become more and more linear; they want more regular meetings and are in favour of intermediate solutions such as this one, complementary to the trade shows which remain essential.”
Messe Frankfurt is the world’s largest tradefair, congress and event organiser with its own exhibition grounds and employs 2,500 people in a total of 30 subsidiaries. The company generated annual sales of approximately €250m 2020, following sales of €738m 2019.
