Visitor magnet Interzoo

The figures speak for themselves: twelve per cent more exhibitors, two per cent more visitors: This year’s Interzoo has, once again, defended its title as the most important meeting point for the pet sector. Even before the start, the expectations were clearly exceeded with 1 720 exhibitors from 60 countries and even more good news was to follow at the end of the four day event regarding visitor numbers. According to the preliminary final report, the number of trade fair visitors rose by two per cent to over 37 000 compared to 2012. The number of foreign visitors has increased by seven per cent. As expected, the number of German visitors has decreased by eight per cent. However this figure was lower than was originally forecast by the event organiser, the Wirtschaftsgemeinschaft Zoologischer Fachbetriebe (WZF).
Exhibitors from new countries
The decline of the German visitors could be primarily due to the increasing concentration of specialist retailers. In many cases, this results in the managers of leading chain stores, no longer personally travelling to Nuremberg but are instead represented by their head office. Although the expected decline in visitor numbers this year did not happen, one thing is clear from these statistics: Attendance cancellations by the big players in this sector like Mars, Nestlé, Spectrum Brands and Hill’s, had no negative impact on the world’s biggest pet trade fair. It was a similar situation last year at the Zoomark International in Bologna, where visitor numbers increased even though many of the well-known exhibitors did not attend. It was also interesting to note the increasing internationality of the world’s leading trade fair. The proportion of foreign exhibitors has increased by 82 per cent this year. Thus, in contrast to 2012, the internationality has increased by three per cent. A large number of countries attended for the first time: Argentina, Chile, Mexico, Pakistan, Ghana, Vietnam and Uganda – to name but a few.

Also the largest percentage of the visitors to the fair were international. In fact 69 per cent came from abroad. Most visitors came from Germany, Italy, France, Great Britain, Spain, Poland and the Netherlands.
Not only the organisers were highly satisfied with the results of the trade…