Palexpo: Growth abroad

Palexpo is an exhibition center that focuses on the rental business of its spectacular exhibition halls. Because Geneva is a neutral ground, not dominated by a predominant industry, the site attracts numerous international trade shows such as the Index fluids show or the EBACE aviation show.

In December 2018, building on the Geneva Invention Fair, the first Asian Invention Fair opened in Hong Kong. The Geneva International Invention Fair will continue its expansion abroad, organizing the Silicon Valley International Invention Festival at the Santa Clara Convention Center in California. That's branding for Geneva. As has been seen with German flagship fairs, more visitors come to the flagship fair from countries where they hold copies - so-called "clones" - of the fairs at their home venue.

Trade shows abroad, such as now the Asian Invention Fair in Hong Kong or the Silicon Valley International Invention Festival, bring the Geneva and Palexpo brands to the customer, and will strengthen the home base through this brand management abroad, which has a considerable reach. This is promising because there is no better marketing tool than live communication - real dialogue with customer groups.

A new event in Geneva was the first blockchain congress "Green Island" (Île verte). Already established in 2012, the contemporary art fair was also held in parallel with Geneva in Monaco under the title "Art Monte-Carlo". At the World Expo in Milan in 2015, Palexpo's restaurants were responsible for catering in the Swiss pavilion together with Agro Marketing Suisse. With innovation, Palexpo now also wants to meet the digital transformation.

It has been both a curse and a blessing that Palexpo has traditionally focused on the rental business rather than the event business. At present, it is probably more of a blessing. Most trade shows in Switzerland are in steep decline, lower-cost show formats are in demand, and Switzerland is often too expensive as a destination for international organizers. Nevertheless, Palexpo announces in its current annual report that it will organize new events of its own, such as those already mentioned.

In addition, in Geneva, albeit organized by the third-party organizer GIMS, there is the cooperative in the automotive sector. The organizer GIMS has entered into a cooperation for the Geneva trade fair flagship, the International Motor Show, with the IFA Berlin in the organization of the future congress for the automotive industry. "Shift Automotive".

This event will also increase the reach of the Palexpo brand in the minds of the trade show and event industry in Germany and worldwide thanks to IFA. This is brand management for the Geneva region.

In its annual report, Palexpo speaks of a "turbulent environment". With sales of 94 million francs in 2018, Palexpo nevertheless recorded a year that almost matched the successful year of 2017, when sales totaled 99.6 million francs. Palexpo's activities generate a total of 598 million in so-called economic effects in the Geneva region. In 2018, this resulted in over 99 events with 1.4 million guests at Palexpo.