With almost two-thirds of visitors to the Excel centre coming from outside the UK, FESPA’s move to London for 2013 delivered the event’s most globally diverse visitor audience to date.
The FESPA 2013 and European Sign Expo (ESE) audience was dominated by senior decision makers, with an unprecedented 71.3% of visitors having input to purchasing decisions, and half having ultimate purchasing responsibility.
With over 22,000 individual visitors checking in to London’s ExCeL exhibition centre over the five days of the FESPA event, the event exceeded Munich 2010. With almost half of those choosing to spend more than one day at the show.
London’s status as a business hub made for significant increases in long-haul attendance from Australasia, +66%, and North America, +45%, compared with the last main event in Munich, Germany in 2010.
After the UK, the largest visitor groups were from Germany, Benelux, France, Italy and Spain, highlighting the continued significance of this wide-format event for print service providers from Western European markets. London proved an appealing destination for printers from the Nordic and Baltic regions, with an increase of over 68% in attendance from these countries compared to the last event.
Managing director Neil Felton commented, ‘The exhibitors I’ve spoken to here at FESPA have been absolutely delighted with the breadth of international visitors, and stands throughout both halls here at ExCeL have been buzzing. Significant product launches in many areas have given visitors plenty of new technology to explore, while our visitor features have attracted printers looking for guidance on how to take their business in new directions.’
