June 12, 2007 -- Official statistics from FESPA 2007 held in Berlin, Germany, from 5th – 9th June prove the exhibition succeeded in breaking all previous records. FESPA once again confirmed its unrivalled position as the world’s largest trade show for screen and large format digital printing, at which over 661 exhibitors showcased their products. A record total of 24,232 individual visitors attended the five-day show, an increase of 20% on FESPA 2005 figures. A significant proportion of visitors returned to the halls on consecutive days, resulting in over 37,500 visits. An additional 9000 exhibitor attendees, who are not included in the audited visitor numbers, were present at FESPA 2007.

Demonstrating FESPA’s growing reach as an international event, visitors came from over 125 countries. Just over 60% of visitors came from outside of Germany, and after the host nation, the top five countries in terms of visitor nationality were as follows: Italy, Poland, Netherlands, United Kingdom, and Spain. Reflecting the growth in Europe’s emerging markets, visitors from Eastern European countries represented 12% of the show’s overall attendance.

Visitors were able to experience many brand new products and developing technologies at the show, indicating once again that FESPA exhibitions present manufacturers with a perfect launch pad and route to market, enabling them to achieve maximum impact among their target audiences. Exhibitors were impressed not only with the volume of traffic to their stands, but particularly with the international profile of visitors and the attendance of decision-makers ready to make purchasing choices.

Frazer Chesterman, managing director of FESPA, comments: “We are thrilled with the success of FESPA 2007. Feedback from exhibitors has been extremely positive with many beating ambitious sales targets early in the show, and achieving double the number of sales initially expected by the time the show closed. Visitors benefited from experiencing the industry’s latest technology developments under one roof, and took full advantage of the opportunity to attend a range of free showcase theatre seminars and debates, and convene with industry peers. The phenomenal footfall in Berlin underlines the value that FESPA provides to exhibitors and visitors, and this is borne out by the speed and enthusiasm with which exhibitors have responded to the release of floorplans for the next FESPA Digital Printing Europe exhibition, taking place in Geneva, 1st – 3rd April 2008, and the next global FESPA event, to be held in Munich, 8th – 12th June 2010.”

He adds: “The continued and growing success of FESPA exhibitions, combined with the fruition of FESPA projects such as FESPA Sensations and the availability of the FESPA e-learning programme in several new languages, shows that we are moving FESPA into the next phase of its development. Not only do we deliver value-added events that bring the marketplace to life, but also a range of initiatives designed to support print service providers and indeed all our industry stakeholders, helping them to become more competitive.”