Which Months Are the Busiest for Trade Fair Visitors?

We often receive the question – which is the busiest period in the trade event industry and there’s no particularly easy answer. We don’t have a unified block of time, wherein all the trade visitors in the world travel to their respected industry events. It’s much more complicated than that. It all depends on industry sector, location and frequency of the trade shows, but we will do our best to examine some current busy period for three industries – the health & medical, the food and the construction. Let us begin.

The Health & Medical Sector

The busiest period falls right at the start of winter and this is marked with the approach of CPhI Worldwide in Frankfurt, Germany on November 5th. Afterwards, medical professionals will stay in Germany for the edition MEDICA in Dusseldorf scheduled for November 18th – November 21st this year. Another key medical exhibition is going to take place in Dubai and that’s Arab Health, which is the biggest platform for medical professionals in the Middle East. These are dates for the current 2019-2020 period, but we also want to mention a specialized dentistry show, IDS, which is set for March 9th – March 13th in 2021 and when it’s on closes off this busy period.

The Construction Sector

Within the construction sector, we also see a similar timeframe emerge with some of the biggest brands in the world to be held in November. The season officially opens with BATIMAT France, which is going to be taking place from November 4th until November 8th in Paris. Then visitors are in for a busy time in Dubai as The Big 5 2019 takes place between November 25th and November 28th. These are the immediate events worth mentioning for the year 2019. But there are other future trade shows that build on this winter trend such as Piscine Global Europe held in Lyon, France from November 4th until November 8th. In 2021, BAU in Munich, Germany is going to open the calendar year with a massive show from January 11th until January 16th. Last, but not least we have a spring closing event in Bauma 2022 scheduled for April 4th – April 10th again in Munich.

The Food & Drinks Sector

The food and drinks industry is one of the busiest in general and from our research, we’re seeing three distinct periods – one in winter, one in spring and one in fall. The first period is based on just three trade shows that will take place in February in close succession. We begin with ISM 2020 that targets sweets and confection from February 2nd until February 5th in Cologne, Germany. Then in Berlin, Germany there’s FRUIT LOGISTICA 2020 from February 5th until February 7th. Our last pick sends you to Dubai, where Gulfood Exhibition will run from February 16th until February 20th.

Our second period is in spring of 2020 and starts with Seafood Expo Global taking place in Brussels, Belgium from April 21st until April 23rd. The following month food professionals are heading over to Geneva where Vitafoods Europe & Finished Products Expo is going to run from May 12th until May 14th.

The last period is composed from events that do not share the same year, but still create a pattern – major European cities and October. First on the list is Anuga 2019, which is set for October 5th – October 9th in Cologne, Germany. The following year we have SIAL 2020 set in Paris and on the period October 18th – October 23rd. Lastly, there’s IBA 2021 in Munich, Germany, which rounds off the month with an edition from October 23rd until October 28th.

It’s worth mentioning that these are broad strokes. The events we have highlighted might be in the same industry, but are so specialized that there’s not much overlap between groups travelling to these destinations. What they do share though is a need for hotel accommodation and that is where we come in to assist you in all the steps towards getting your work trip planned.