Last week, on March 15th, ProWein 2016 ended in Düsseldorf, Germany. ProWein is a great wine happening, managed with typical German effectiveness, self-proclaiming to be “The World’s No.1 International Trade Fair for Wine and Spirits”.
ProWein opened its activities in 1994 with 321 exhibitors and approximately 1,500 visitors. In 2015, it had grown to 6,000 exhibitors from 50 countries and roughly 52,000 visitors. Of these, 84% were foreign exhibitors and 46% were foreign visitors. From March 13th-15th 2016 more exhibitors and visitors from throughout the world came to the Düsseldorf fair. Fresh figures for this year account for over 55,000 trade visitors (about 6% more than last year) and 6,200 exhibitors. The largest exhibitor nations this year included Italy (1,500), France (1,300), Germany (1,000), Spain (550), Austria (320), Portugal (300) and Overseas (600). Added to this were some 420 exhibitors from 30 countries with their special spirits. Exhibitors from a total of 59 nations attended the event. This year visitors travelled from 126 different countries. Hence ProWein is constantly growing. As many as half the visitors now come to Düsseldorf from abroad. Essentially, almost the entire wine world joins the event, making it one of the most relevant locations where global wine business is set and developed.
The highest rise in visitors from outside Europe was from Overseas, mainly from Asia. Overall, there seems to be a trend where ProWein is primarily attracting decision-makers with great purchasing responsibility: over 70% of visitors came from top or middle management. The success of the trade fair was also highly rated: one in two visitors confirmed that they found new suppliers and two-thirds were able to go home with useful information on trends and innovations. Just fewer than 96% stated they had entirely reached the goals of their trade fair visit. “Figures clearly show that ProWein is the world’s most important business platform for the entire sector. This is where the trade fair budgets are spent. And also for the major, prizewinning wine estates, ProWein has now become the absolute must-attending event,” proudly boasts Hans Werner Reinhard, Managing Director of Messe Düsseldorf (the city’s tradeshow organising body), summing up the success of ProWein 2016.
The high-level event programme at ProWein is extensive and diverse. Either organised centrally or by the exhibitors at their stands, it offers 3 days full of inspiration and innovation, such as: numerous tasting areas, surprising taste experiences at the Fizzz Lounge, sparkling classics at the Champagne Lounge, best-practice presentation at the special show “same but different”, special show “Packaging & Design”, top-class discussions and culinary events. Moreover, there is an appendix to the diurnal activity: with “ProWein goes City” a day’s bustle can continue into the evening: At one of the selected gastronomic partners of ProWein in Düsseldorf with their special events.
Immediately following ProWein in Düsseldorf is the premiere of ProWine Asia from 12 to 15 April 2016 in Singapore. Now in its fourth edition ProWine China in Shanghai will run from 7 to 9 November 2016. The next ProWein in Düsseldorf will be held from 19 to 21 March 2017. Dates for ProWein 2018 have already been set in Düsseldorf: from 18 to 20 March 2018. All information on ProWein can be found online at http://www.ProWein.de