As we slide into the winter solstice, a bonus to this time of year is that tradeshow season has virtually come to an end – at least for most of us. Our biggest event in North America, AIMExpo 2016, is now in the books. It is the last show in Orlando (for now), and the consumer side at least was bigger than ever. Dealers, however, were still largely absent.
The week before AIMExpo we were in Cologne, Germany for INTERMOT. This was the first time MPN has covered the show live, and devoted a separate International Issue to it also. It was an eye opener, to say the least! The industry on the international level is as strong as it has been since the recession.
“It seems we have had a breakthrough in the number of premieres being shown this year. At the press conferences, during Press Day, we saw around 40 new models unveiled,” said INTERMOT Project Manager Ingo Riedeberger in a one-on-one exclusive interview with MPN. “I believe this really puts INTERMOT in a leading role internationally.”
INTERMOT indeed broke records this year. With an attendance of over 220,000 visitors from 95 countries, and considerably more enthusiasts poured into the Cologne fairgrounds than ever before. “INTERMOT 2016 was a mega event with outstanding results,” said Gerald Böse, president and CEO of Koelnmesse. “We have heralded in a new era with new concepts and especially with the integration of the customizing world.”
But what really impressed us was the number of trade visitors, which the show says topped 57,000. In our interview with Riedeberger, he couldn’t emphasize enough how important the trade visitors were to the show’s success.
“Exhibitors have repeatedly given us positive feedback on the amount of business they conduct here,” he said. “It shows that with the VIP Program for importers and distributors (or on their own through invitation), and all of the trade visitors, there are a number of ways to do business at this show. Most trade visitors don’t come here to sit on bikes but to buy products for their businesses back home.”
