Despite a change in scheduling, this year’s ‘Golf Europe’ proved to be a great success for UK exhibitors according to the British Golf Industry Association. Fourteen companies took advantage of the UK Trade & Investment export grant available for this event and feedback from those exhibiting within the British Pavilion in Hall C1 has been very positive.
The show’s organisers announced a slight decline in visitor numbers, probably due to the event running over a weekend, although the quality of those attending was high. Paul Williams, sales director of Asbri Golf, who exhibited within the British Pavilion said, “This has been the best trade show we have exhibited at by far. We generated a considerable number of quality enquiries and met key distribution companies in the industry. We are already working with some of these companies to introduce our brand and products into other areas of the European market.”
Another company pleased with the quality of visitors was 2 Thumb Grip Limited. Managing director, Philip Gazeley said, “Although the number of visitors seemed lower than last year, we did feel that the quality and number of enquiries was to a high standard and have noted that these seemed to be from further around the globe.”
The event was also a success according to Phil Aitken of Jaxx Golf who said, “Exhibiting at Golf Europe certainly helped us in re-introducing the PowerBilt brand into the mainstream golf market. I’m always impressed by the consistent quality of the visitors and venue.”
For the first time this year, ‘Golf Europe’ ran alongside ‘Fairway’, the specialist congress for golf course construction. Despite a significant decline in visitors to Fairway, probably for similar reasons, this amalgamation created the largest business platform for golf in Europe with over 6,300 visitors recorded. Almost 60% of visitors came from outside Germany with a large contingent from Eastern Europe.
David Wells, chairman of the BGIA, commented, “Golf Europe has always been an important event in the golf industry calendar but in the past few years the international profile of the show has been significantly increased. It is the opportunity to meet potential customers from across Europe, and further afield, which makes this such a good event for UK companies. We hope that UK Trade & Investment will continue to consider Golf Europe a ‘core’ event for our industry.”
Those who were unable to attend the Fairway show can view the list of exhibitors, together with website links, on-line at www.fairway.de which is published in English as well as German.
British Golf Industry Association www.bgia.org.uk
Golf Europe www.golf-europe.com
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