The Cologne trade fair company was established in 1922 through the initiative of the city’s then-mayor and later German Chancellor, Konrad Adenauer. In 1924, the first spring trade fair was successfully conducted in newly-built halls in the Deutz district on the right bank of the River Rhine. Today, the Koelnmesse Group is a legally and economically independent business enterprise with more than 600 employees all over the world. A broad network of 11 subsidiaries and representative offices in more than 80 countries is available to serve exhibitors, visitors and the media.
 
The Cologne exhibition centre is the fourth largest in the world. After beeing new designed today it is one of the most attractive exhibition centers in Europe. Four new multipurpose trade fair halls have been built to replace the historic Rhineside Halls; the infrastructure of the exhibition grounds has been restructured from top to bottom; and the quality of visitors’ and exhibitors’ stay in Cologne has been significantly improved. There are many reasons why the new-look Koelnmesse is set to be one of the most appealing trade fair venues in Europe: There’s the compact layout of the exhibition grounds, with 11 trade fair halls that form a single, continuous environment; the outstanding technical features and equipment, which meet all the requirements of today’s exhibition and trade fair sector; first-class services that are unparalleled in the trade fair industry; the exhibition grounds’ outstanding location within easy reach of the city center; and, finally, the outstanding accessibility of Koelnmesse, whether you’re traveling by plane, train or car. At its disposal are a total exhibition area of 284,000 m² and about 100,000 m² of open-air space site. The centre can accommodate up to 19,500 conference participants, and is an ideal venue for various conventions and accompanying exhibitions. Koelnmesse’s Congress Centres play host to well about 2,000 conferences and other events annually during trade fairs as well as between them.
 
Koelnmesse GmbH is the Koelnmesse Group company responsible for the core business — organising and conducting of about 70 trade fairs and trade exhibitions at home and abroad on a regular basis in close co-operation with the participating economic branches. Koelnmesse fairs are the pilot fairs for 25 such branches. The focus of the trade fair programme and therefore the key competence fields of Koelnmesse are organised in the following business units: Communications, Art and Fashion; House, Garden and Leisure; Food; Furniture, Interior Design and Textiles; Health, Lifestyle and Facilities, Technology and Environment as well as IT and Digital Entertainment. Although the majority shareholders of Koelnmesse GmbH are the City of Cologne and the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, the company receives no funding or subsidies for its investments and operating costs.
 
The permanent expansion of internationality and the trade fair schedule as well as comprehensive service quality are the cornerstones of Koelnmesse’s trade fair policy that also make a significant contribution to business success. In line with its claim of “We energize your business,” Koelnmesse serves to generate valuable momentum for its customers and the sectors they represent — before, during and after each trade fair, in Cologne and in all relevant markets.
 
In terms of total rented net area, Koelnmesse is the world’s largest trade fair company that operates its own site. It also conducts the most international fairs in the world. An average 60 percent of the exhibitors and about 33 percent of the visitors come from abroad, making Cologne the location for the leading fairs where supply and demand for the world market of the respective branches are almost completely represented. These fairs include, for example, Anuga in the food sector, the imm cologne, Entsorga-Enteco, IMB, the International Dental Show IDS, the art fair ART COLOGNE, the trade fair for Digital Management Solutions DMS or the leading international trade fair for the entire photographic and imaging sector, photokina. For the sector leaders, but also for medium-sized businesses, which make up a significant portion of exhibitors in Cologne, these pilot fairs are the shortest route to the world market and an important opportunity to take advantage of globalisation and the internationalisation of their business sectors. Many suppliers from abroad regularly attend Cologne trade fairs as part of group participations, which are generally organised by governmental export-promotion offices. In addition, Koelnmesse is increasingly acting in the interests of customers on all of the world’s major markets. The company is cooperating with sector organisations and local trade fair companies in various regions — Asia in particular — with a view to staging more than 20 own fairs in these areas. Koelnmesse provides its expertise and extensive experience as an organiser of leading trade fairs in the respective sectors.
 
Various specialised Koelnmesse Group subsidiaries are responsible for providing special services that go beyond the core business for Koelnmesse customers. Koelnmesse International GmbH organises trade fair activities outside the Cologne exhibition centre. Koelnmesse International uses Cologne’s sector expertise to enter new markets — in addition to the activities associated with the pilot fairs — bringing the product range to selected target regions. Since 1981, the company has been organising about 100 fairs, exhibitions and events each year all over the world. Koelnmesse Ausstellungen GmbH markets free hall capacity which is used for outside organisers’ shows by German and international trade fair companies without their own sites, associations and purchasing co-operatives. It also conducts its own events for the public. Finally, Koelnmesse Service GmbH offers exhibitors and visitors all the services they need from a single source. It provides a full-service package that includes everything from arrival and departure support, accommodation organisation, stand planning and organising fair-related events to the implementation of professional advertising and media services.
 
In total, the Koelnmesse Group’s events, which are conducted in various rotations, bring the product ranges of more than 45,000 exhibiting companies from more than 120 countries together with the demand of around 2.3 million visitors from nearly 220 countries.
 
In 2007, overall turnover amounted to €200.6 million. 68 events were held:, of them 28 of its own in Cologne and 17 organised abroad. Nearly 32,000 companies exhibited at these events, which were attended by about 1.5 million visitors. A total of 76 events will take place in 2008. The number of trade fairs being organized abroad has increased to almost 30 events.
The exhibition centre is located directly opposite the famous cathedral on the other side of the Rhine, and can be reached from downtown Cologne within just a few minutes by train, boat, car, or on foot. There are 15,000 parking spaces with a direct connection to the European highway network located right next to the halls, and all important trains stop during trade fairs at both the Cologne main railway station and the exhibition centre station Cologne Messe/Deutz. All trade fair visitors can also use their admission ticket as a free local public transport ticket covering an extensive area around Cologne during the events.