12 April 2015  

FIBO breaks all-time records
138,000 visitors descend on Cologne

Another FIBO, another record-breaking event: boasting a total of 138,000 visitors over four event days, the Leading International Trade Show for Fitness, Wellness and Health continued its successful run of recent years and recorded another attendance increase of 22,000 visitors (19 per cent) over last year. Altogether 725 exhibitors from 40 nations (prior year: 697 – plus 4.0 per cent) presented the latest fitness and health industry trends and innovations on a floor space of 130,000 m².

“FIBO is among the leading trade fairs with the strongest growth momentum worldwide”, says Hans-Joachim Erbel, CEO of organiser Reed Exhibitions Deutschland. In the span of only five years, FIBO managed to almost triple attendance and boost the number of exhibiting companies by nearly 50 per cent. Back in 2010, when FIBO was staged in Essen, 53,000 visitors and 560 exhibitors attended the industry trade fair. “The scale of this development is unparalleled in the international trade fair business“, says Erbel. Again this year, the altogether 58,000 tickets allocated to private visitors had already sold out before the show even started.  
“The development of the fitness and health market continues with strong momentum and the industry is still on the up and up, as this year’s FIBO helped to underscore”, says FIBO Director Ralph Scholz. More than nine million Germans hold gym memberships today, which is more than eleven per cent of the total population and another six per cent more than a year ago. More than 50 million people train in fitness and health facilities Europe-wide.

And, as the economic trend index tallied at FIBO by an independent market research company confirms, prospects remain bright. The results showed that nearly 60 per cent of surveyed companies expect business to continue to grow or grow strongly; only eleven per cent forecast a slight business cool-down. The pronounced readiness to invest seen at FIBO matched those findings. Over 40 per cent of trade visitors came to Cologne with concrete plans to invest. A third of them placed orders of 50,000 euros or more while the trade fair was still ongoing. And six per cent of them closed deals valued at over half a million euros. 

This development was buoyed in equal parts by domestic German and foreign demand, as Marco Jakobs, sales director of Johnson Health Tech GmbH, emphasises: “Massive numbers of both national and international customers and prospects frequented our stand, especially on the first two days. We are entirely satisfied with the outcome.” In all, one in five trade visitors came from outside Germany, including the 320 leaders from 28 nations who participated in the “2nd European Health & Fitness Forum” held in conjunction with FIBO.

“In our continued quest to improve FIBO, we’re paying special attention to visitor composition. This includes internationalising the event as well as further enhancing FIBO’s trade visitor profile in its role as the leading trade fair worldwide”, says Scholz, who also announced the incorporation of additional hall space next year. For good reason: more than 80 per cent of FIBO 2016’s stand space has been booked already. 

Fitness fans, too, can look forward to new highlights in 2016. Plans include FIBO fitness festivals in four locations across Germany aimed at bringing together the fitness community and getting even more people excited about fitness.   

The next FIBO will take place at the Exhibition Centre Cologne from 7 to 10 April 2016.

To download up-to-date images and obtain detailed information on the winners of the FIBO INNOVATION AWARD, please visit www.fibo.de.

Note: The visitor, exhibitor and floor space figures of this trade fair are calculated and certified according to the uniform definitions published by FKM – German Society for Voluntary Control of Fair and Exhibition Statistics.

Exhibitor statements

“FIBO is a show that gives the opportunity not only to meet with customers from around the world but it gives the opportunity to meet with a lot of our key-distributors as well. So it is a combination of both, customer-facing and distributor-facing. It is a very important show for us. We look forward to it every year, look forward to seeing everyone and we look forward to the environment, because there is a lot of energy here.”
Chris Clawson, President, Life Fitness

“I think for the industry FIBO plays a critical role. It is still important to tell the general public about the benefits of exercise and FIBO has done a great job in bringing that message to a broader public. Especially over the last years we have seen some more international presence, which is good for all of the industry. I wish this to continue and to grow further so we can reach more people to get more active and stay healthy.”

Arie van Winkelhof, Managing Director, gym80 International GmbH

“FIBO came through for us once again as a reliable trade fair partner and professional platform for numerous investment decisions in favour of milon. I’d like to use this opportunity to say congratulations on 30 years of developing the fitness and health industry.”

Thilo Stumpf, Marketing Director, milon industries GmbH

“FIBO was beyond successful for us. Our new stand concept was exceptionally well received and strikingly showcased the entire spectrum of our portfolio. Our new functional training products turned out to be real audience magnets. Massive numbers of both national and international customers and prospects frequented our stand, especially on the first two days. We are entirely satisfied with the outcome.”

Marco Jakobs, Commercial Sales Director, Johnson Health Tech GmbH 

“We made excellent contacts and had great talks at our stand. Visitor quality was very good, especially on Thursday and Friday. Year after year, the trade fair gets more international. Coming from the physical therapy sector, we did meet the people we had hoped to meet here.”

Helmut Wahlich, Area Sales Manager Germany, proxomed Medizintechnik GmbH

“We use FIBO to enhance our image, to demonstrate advancements in the market, and of course to establish new contacts and maintain existing ones. We feature new trends in order to show that the fitness market is moving, in part, toward wellness. As such, FIBO is exactly the right platform – as well as the most interesting one – for the fitness studio segment.”

Frank Schneider, Area Sales Manager, KLAFS GmbH & Co. KG

“FIBO is the ideal platform for our steadily growing international market. This year’s contacts and the positive feedback from more than 600 customers from 40 countries validate our efforts to create top-notch comprehensive functional training solutions that are customisable and resolutely innovative. The trade fair focussed on the functional and cross training themes. We are particularly delighted by the success of two products we launched at FIBO: the Core Momentum Trainer and the Escape Deck 2.0. In addition, FIBO marked the start of a forward-looking partnership between Escape Fitness and Gym80. And, last but not least, it provided a stage for our functional and cross training stand show, which was a huge success thanks to the performance of our entire team. We already look forward to next year!”
Matthew Januszek, CEO, and Tino Tsolakis, Head of Business Development, Escape Fitness

“The quality of business contacts this year was excellent. High numbers of consumers visited our stand. Particularly awesome this year was the atmosphere at the trade fair. One highlight for us was that we were equally busy on all show days.”

Matthias Orth, CEO, Venice Beach

“We were very busy at FIBO, especially on the trade visitor days. Our visitors were very interested in what we had to offer, which meant that we closed some great deals. Compared to recent years, we had significantly more visitors, especially from abroad. Notably strong contingents came from Asia, the Netherlands, the United States and Scandinavia – basically every continent was represented. We are very satisfied and will definitely be back again next year.”

Tilo Süßkoch, Associate Managing Director, Muskelkater Sport Köln GmbH

“We were extremely successful. It was the first time that we came officially and the feedback is extremely positive. We were here just to show our product – that’s the key of success for us. We sold 50 pairs of shoes every day – only online and with no fair discount. That’s really good for us. Our customers came from USA, Spain, Turkey, India, Italy – they came from everywhere. We are very happy and will come definitely next year again.”

Riccardo Aragona, Marketing Manager, VIBRAM fivefingers

“Our entire team invested a lot in the upfront preparations that enabled our presence here, but the efforts were well worth it! We met all of our key contacts – both German and international – at FIBO POWER. Going forward, a few more trade visitors wouldn’t hurt, but overall we’re very satisfied and will definitely return next year.”
Rubén Castelló Navarro, Commercial Director, Amix Levante, S.L.

“We recorded very high visitor numbers and were able to establish great contacts, especially on Thursday and Friday. Many business contacts came from France as well as from Dubai and elsewhere in Europe – it was better than in previous years. All in all we had a fantastic trade fair – we’re very satisfied.”
Manuela Mahlich, Product Manager, Weider Germany GmbH

www.fibo.de