FESPA EXPO ATTRACTS EXTRA 10% PRINTERS

Global sign, display, promotional, merchandising and garment printing show Fespa, saw visitor numbers rise by 10 per cent for this year’s event, which took place two weeks prior to PacPrint.

Some 14,036 visitors attended this year’s events, surpassing visitors to the 2024 event by 10.5 per cent. Visitors travelled from 126 countries, including Australia and New Zealand, with the largest audiences coming from Germany and Poland, with the event hosted in Berlin.

With total attendance hitting 23,061, Fespa said "it is clear" that the breadth of exhibits and educational content is motivating two-thirds of all visitors to take more than one day to experience the event in full.

Fespa said the exhibition remained a pivotal platform for senior decision-makers this year, with 87 per cent of visitors holding decision-making positions and 71 per cent being directors, CEOs, owners or managers. The collective median budget was €2.9bn, with 40 per cent of attendees planning to invest in solutions in the next 12 months.

According to Fespa, visitors said they particularly enjoyed the SmartHub Conference speaker sessions, the line up of features and the vast array of printing and signage technologies on display – all under one roof.

Michael Ryan, head of Fespa Global Print Expo, commented, “The feedback we have received on our 2025 events has been phenomenal. From exhibitors and Awards winners, to conference speakers and visitors, it’s clear to see that Fespa Global Print Expo and its co-located events provided an exceptional platform for visionaries to meet and explore opportunities. As a result of returning to Germany, we saw a 44 per cent increase in German attendees and a 117 per cent increase in Polish attendees in comparison to Munich 2023.

"In addition, there were 100 product and technology launches. Having the opportunity to connect with members of the print community from across the world, supporting the growth and development of not only their business, but the wider industry, is what it’s all about. We’re excited to see what further innovations and opportunities the 2026 events in Barcelona will bring to our community.”

The specialist print trade shows Fespa, and Labelexpo which attracted 36,000 to the 2023 Brussels event, are steadily gaining visitors, while the mother of all shows, drupa, struggles to keep the attendee volumes flowing. The drupa expo numbers still dwarf all others, except those in China, but it lost 35 per cent of visitors for 2024 compared with its last iteration in 2016. It still attracted 170,000 printers.

Barcelona will host both the upcoming Labelexpo in September and Fespa 2026 next May.