Charting a course for growth in the UK

Glee, which has been in existence for 30 years now, is viewed as an annual meeting place for the international garden and leisure world. The event occupies ten halls at the NEC, and whereas attention in the early years was focused chiefly on garden care, planting aids and garden accessories, the scope of the show has since expanded to cover even more aspects, including landscape gardening, horticulture, garden care, equipment, water gardening, decoration, gifts, the outdoor sphere and naturally the pet sector with Petindex in Hall 4.
The organisers are expecting around 25 000 visitors to Glee in Birmingham.
Although Glee posted a record increase in international visitors of nine per cent last year, the organiser is anticipating growth in 2005 too. More exhibitors than last year have already registered for the garden care category, not least due to the interval between Gafa shows in Cologne. And the potential of Petindex is also rated as high, for here applications to exhibit have increased by almost ten per cent, and thus around 300 exhibitors are expected. The organisers of Glee attribute the greater interest in Petindex 2005 to an Interzoo-free year on the one hand and to the good results from the previous year reported by several exhibitors on the other. 1 700 exhibitors in all are currently expected to come to Birmingham, compared with 1 625 last year. With regard to visitor attendance, the organisers expect the number of international buyers to double to at least 5 000: "A total of 28 000 buyers will thus participate in the fair," they say. Glee/Petindex is divided into various product categories:
Outdoor Living (Halls 1, 2, 3/3A): Furniture for outdoors and for winter gardens, barbecues and barbecue accessories, camping, jacuzzis, spas and swimming pools; Home & Gift (Hall 3/3A): Gifts and decorative accessories, floristry, toys and garden games; Petindex (Hall 4): Pet care products, products for wild creatures, aquariums; Water Gardening (Hall 4): Water in the garden; Garden Care (Hall 5); Planting aids and equipment, gardeners' requisites, clothing, garden tools and machinery, DIY and related products; Landscaping (Halls 6, 7, 8): Design of buildings and outdoor areas, stone ware, terracotta, pots and statuary, landscaping and architectural products; Nursery (Hall 9): Displays of plants, trees, shrubs, exotic plants, bulbs and other horticultural products.
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