There are already enough trade fairs (results of the question of the week)
12/26/2016
Motorworld Berlin was created in 2015, Retro Classics Bavaria in 2016 and new trade fairs in Cologne and Hamburg have been announced for 2017. There are also plans for other cities that could soon be implemented. There is a trend towards regional classic car fairs, we hear.
Is this growth planned without taking into account the needs of classic car enthusiasts, or are they happy about the additional offer? This is exactly what our last "Question of the Week" tried to find out.
In response to the question "Are more classic car shows really an enrichment?", the majority (53%) answered no. More shows do not automatically increase the range on offer, exhibitors have to decide which shows they want to attend and visitors have to travel to several shows in order to see as complete a range as possible.
Reader Michel Kreuz made this particularly clear in a personal comment: "The cake doesn't get any bigger if you divide it into lots of pieces!"
As a representative of the German Peugeot Pre-War Register, he also sees the position of the clubs and interest groups in particular: "I assume that the vast majority of clubs, like us, 'manage' the trade fair appearance out of pure enthusiasm with volunteer stand crews who invest their vacation and free time. Nevertheless, the costs, including stand fees, stand construction requirements such as the mandatory laying of carpeting, transportation of exhibits, etc., quickly add up to several thousand euros. This is a very significant item in the association's budget, which is not normally offset by new members gained at the trade fair.
Many trade fair organizers are probably not aware that the success of a classic car fair depends to a large extent on the presence of the clubs - they not only bring variety to the usually very one-sided range of "stars and horses" that the commercial providers often limit themselves to, but also generate a large proportion of the paying trade fair visitors from their members. Despite this, their space is increasingly being reduced, stands are allocated to unattractive areas or they are even uninvited due to an alleged lack of space, as happened in Bremen a few years ago.
Under the above premises, it is not to be expected that clubs will present themselves at more and more trade fairs; I am therefore personally of the opinion that fragmentation is counterproductive and that four to five large classic car fairs, which ideally do not compete with each other in terms of space or dates, would be quite sufficient ."
These arguments are very easy to understand.
However, 21% of the almost 260 survey participants were not sure whether there were already too many fairs. They voted that there were still some cities where there was still room for an additional trade fair.
Finally, a good fifth thought that more was better in this case too and that competition promotes business. Shorter travel distances and a better distribution of trade fairs throughout the year would speak in favor of more trade fairs. This means that only 23% are really convinced that more trade fairs are a step forward, while almost four-fifths tend towards "there are slowly but surely enough trade fairs".
Here is a graphical representation of the results:
The evaluations of all previous Questions of the Weekcan all be read in a dedicated topic channel.
And the next question of the week has already been asked. This time it's about finding out how classic car prices will develop in 2017.
