A tour of Europe’s trade shows

Trade shows always give fresh impetus to industry. New products are born here, contacts are made and many a merger or cooperative venture has developed from a brief, passing conversation at a fair.
In the year between Interzoos, one fair follows hot on the heels of another. Most of them are only of regional interest, and this is not at all meant in a derogatory sense. In any case, delimiting an industry according to geographical boundaries is no longer possible, and to this extent all fairs are international in some way. And to pick up new ideas and stimuli, get to know new business partners or find out what the prevailing trends are just now it’s always worth visiting one or another of the socalled national shows.
This year’s Zoomark in Bologna promises to be particularly exciting. Industry insiders are of the unanimous opinion that in an Interzoo-free year this is not only the biggest but also the most interesting fair in Europe. In addition to its undoubtedly important function as a national show, Zoomark has developed increasingly into an internationally acclaimed meeting place. Moving the fair from Milan to Bologna has not interrupted this development, although visitor figures for the Zoomark two years ago declined slightly.
In the merry month of May, two further shows of interest to many industry experts take place, the Pet Fair in Lodz and DeZooFa in Wiesbaden. The Pet Fair in Lodz has a long tradition and is still one of the most important trade shows in Eastern Europe. DeZooFa in Wiesbaden was originally conceived as a national trade fair that was meant above all to offer a platform to companies concentrating primarily on the internal market. Now the organisers have announced their intention of opening the fair up more to Europe, meaning that even foreign suppliers with no sales outlet of their own in Germany can exhibit at the show. The response to this offer has been good, because in spite of its current weakness the German market continues to offer suppliers from all over the world great potential. In this regard it will be extremely interesting to see how the premiere of this newly conceived European window will turn out at DeZooFa.
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Ralf Majer-Abele