After a difficult year 2009 the organiser of Resale, Florian Hess, is somewhat more optimistic about the future. Since the beginning of the year orders received by exhibitors have started to increase again. However, he does not expect the situation to return to normal until 2011.
Dr. Rolf Langbein Journalist in Rottenburg
Herr Hess, in the year 2009 machine tool manufacturers experienced a drop in turnover of around 40%. Will this have any implications for the exhibitors taking part in Resale 2010?
It would be unrealistic to say that this setback has not left its traces. As far as the number of exhibitors goes we are actually quite satisfied. We notice that in spite of the crisis they want to be present on this important market place but in some cases they have reduced the area of their stands. Our forecast for 2010 is for around 450 – 500 exhibitors, compared with 514 last year. Visitors will not notice any significant difference.
After the relatively small drop in the number of visitors of 10% at Resale 2009, are you expecting an increase this year?
We do not expect any significant increase. In 2009 there was for example a large drop in the number of visitors from East European counties such as Belarus and Ukraine. This year we noticed that there is again a great interest, and we are expecting larger delegations. In Germany there is a certain amount of optimism in the machine tool and other industries, whereas this is not so apparent in other European countries. What is important is the mix not only of countries, but also of the industrial segments attending.
Resale lives from the number of countries from which visitors come. Will that be true again this year?
As far as we can see from ticket and visa applications, the response in most countries is as in previous years: For this reason we are very optimistic about the wide spread of visitors who will be visiting us.
How can you try to persuade exhibitors to show more machines rather than just computers and brochures?
Exhibitors who already have experience of showing at the Fair and who bring machines with them realise how well this goes down with customers and do the business to prove it. We pass this information on to all exhibitors as a recommendation for the following Fair. In addition, the trade associations in the largest segment of metal-working, the FDM and the EAMTM, do their best to persuade their members to bring machines with them. However, the national backgrounds of the exhibitors, e.g. for those from Scandinavia or from England, makes it logistically difficult and expensive to bring machines to the Fair.
It was noticeable that in recent years there were more groups of visitors from the Near East. Will that be the case this year?
Looking at the requests for information, we noticed that the Near East is again well represented. There is an increased interest from the Kurdish part of Iraq. For the first time we have given exclusivity to one representative in this region. He already has made 200 specific ticket and visa applications. A year ago this figure was only 120. Iran as well shows great interest, although in this case politics plays an important part, i.e. embargo. After the drop last year, we believe that we will once again have more visitors from Eastern Europe.
As the organiser of Resale 2010 what do you hope from the Fair?
If we reach last year’s level, we will actually be satisfied. The main orders from exhibitors for 2010 were actually made in the year 2009, which was a bad year. It would be foolish to pretend otherwise. This year started better, which bodes well for Resale 2010. We now want to look forward with optimism and hope that in 2011 the effects of the crisis will finally lie behind us.
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