Decision makers flock to Interpack – especially after Eurovision!

However, the Eurovision Song Contest, held in the Germany city at the same time, had an effect on when visitor patterns.

Almost 75 per cent of the visitors to the week-long fair, which wrapped up yesterday, were company managers, said a show spokesman. The event hosted 2,700 exhibitors from 60 countries across 19 halls.

Many of these decision-makers had approached stands with specific orders and “lucrative post-fair business” was expected, said the Messe Düsseldorf.

Over 100,000 of the attendees came from abroad, underlining the international flavour of the trade show. Sustainability, safety and convenience were the overriding themes in the exhibition halls, added the spokesman.

The staging of the Eurovision Song Contest in an arena opposite the Messe made itself felt on Interpack – with many experts choosing to delay their arrival until after the final on 14 May.

Exhibitor feedback​

But feedback from a host of the major packaging companies at the event was extremely positive.

Multivac Sepp Haggenmüller’s managing director Christian Traumann declared the show “a great success”​ for the company.

“We generated 30 per cent more contacts than in 2008,”​ he added. “We were especially pleased with the high quality of the trade visitors to our stand, with whom we had very fruitful exchanges.”​

Markus Rustler, managing director of Theegarten-PACTEC said the “quality of visitors was even better by far than in previous years”,​ and that the firm had reached its desired contacts.

Krones CEO Volker Kronseder described it as a “fantastic trade fair”,​ while Paul Griffin, Ishida marketing director, said it was “indisputably the most important exhibition for the packaging industry”.​

Mondi said it expected the number of leads from the show would “significantly exceed”​ those gained from the previous event in 2008.

Claudia Gross, of Bizerba, said it was noticeable the “economy is taking off again”,​ as she also highlighted the quality and number of visitors to the company’s stand.

The staging of a number of complementary events within or alongside the show also proved a big draw, said the organisers. The Save Food Congress, InnovationParc Packaging and Metal Packaging Plaza were all highly popular, they added.