aquanale 2017: preparations are picking up speed

Aug 22, 2016

Top ratings from participants at aquanale 2015 reinforce the position of the International Trade Fair for Sauna, Pool, Ambience

In just over 500 days, the next aquanale will open its doors in Cologne from 7 to 10 November 2017. And the preparations for the International Trade Fair for Sauna, Pool, Ambience are already picking up speed. Months before the official release of application forms, Koelnmesse is already receiving a lot of enquiries from companies in Germany and abroad about booking stand areas or wanting to increase the level of their participation. This is not the only reason why organisers are expecting a similarly high level of interest from the industry in aquanale 2017 to that in aquanale 2015 with its very good results of 288 exhibitors from 30 countries (share of international exhibitors: 51 percent, an increase of 7 percent over the previous event) and around 26,700 trade visitors from 117 countries. "According to a representative survey, about 85 percent of the exhibitors at aquanale 2015 are planning to participate in the 2017 event", says Katharina C. Hamma, Chief Operating Officer of Koelnmesse. "That gives us a real boost for the preparations." Application forms will be available from August 2017.

After the co-location of the swimming pool sectors from aquanale and FSB, successfully undertaken in recent years, we will continue to build on the synergies in the private and public swimming pool sectors - with new partnerships and dedicated events, in particular for operators of public swimming pools", says Bettina Frias, Project Manager at Koelnmesse, explaining the strategic developments underway for aquanale 2017. "It is our aim, in close cooperation with our partners, to establish a comprehensive, international networking and business platform in Cologne". In conjunction with partners such as the Federal Association of Pool and Wellness (Bundesverband Schwimmbad & Wellness e.V) and the International Association for Sports and Leisure Facilities (IAKS/ Internationalen Vereinigung Sport- und Freizeiteinrichtungen), an even broader array of topics relevant for the swimming pool and sauna sectors will be addressed and developed in a forward-looking way. In addition, in the coming months a sales and marketing focus will be on further internationalisation of the event, directed above all towards the swimming pool markets of the USA, Middle East, Northern and Eastern Europe, which grew by an impressive 12.5 percent at the last aquanale in 2015. The trade fair team has reacted to the consistent overall growth in exhibitor numbers and demand for stand areas by dedicating all of Hall 6 to the event and also extending the swimming pool-related themes into the neighbouring Hall 7, making for a total of over 32,000 square metres of exhibition space.

Top marks from exhibitors and visitors for aquanale 2015
The excellent positioning of aquanale as the International Trade Fair for Sauna, Pool, Ambience has been impressively confirmed by the results of an independent exhibitor and visitor survey on aquanale 2015. The event attracted trade visitors and premium private visitors from 117 countries. The quality of the visitor profile was correspondingly high: 88 percent of the visitors were involved in the purchasing and procurement decisions of their companies, which was a cause of great satisfaction among aquanale exhibitors. Because of the success of the trade fair, 56 percent of the German companies and 69 percent of the foreign companies are planning to exhibit at aquanale again in 2017. 79.6 percent of exhibitors agree that the supporting programme contributes towards the achievement of the trade fair goals.

For their part, visitors to aquanale were also satisfied across the board: 92.5 percent of visitors said that the visit to the fair was worthwhile or very worthwhile. 97.3 percent felt highly or very highly satisfied in terms of the achievement of the aims that they had set for their visit to the fair, such as finding out about new products and ideas, the market, placing or preparing to place orders, networking or continuing training. Contributing to this level of satisfaction were not only the offer on display by the aquanale exhibitors (95.1 percent) but also the supporting programme with the 6th Cologne Swimming Pool and Wellness FORUM and the 8th International Swimming Pond Congress.

More information is available at: www.aquanale.com