Six per cent more visitors at Spoga+Gafa

Six per cent more trade visitors attended Spoga+Gafa this year than a year ago. Altogether, Koelnmesse attracted around 39 000 visitors from 106 countries to the three-day garden fair, which ended yesterday. The increase in the number of visitors from Germany was slightly above average at seven per cent, but the proportion of foreign visitors remained at the level of the previous year at 60 per cent. This "reaffirmed the wide international spread of this event," according to Katharina C. Hamm, managing director of Koelnmesse, summing up the outcome. Of 2 032 exhibitors, 83 per cent were from abroad, with 57 countries represented.
The closing report of the exhibition company highlights the good response of the retail trade among other things. John Herbert, CEO of the European DIY Retail Association (EDRA) and the Ghin network (Global Home Improvement Network) was quoted as saying "The number of member companies that visited Spoga+Gafa has reached a record level". Buyers from Japan and from Home Depot, the world's biggest DIY chain, for example, were in attendance at the show. Frank Miedaner, Weber-Stephen Germany managing director and advisory board chairman of Spoga+Gafa, also summed up the fair as "especially positive".