BAU Munich celebrates a successful comeback

04/25/2023 | Print view

After a break of more than four years, BAU 2023 was back in full swing. Around 190,000 visitors and 2,260 exhibitors from 49 countries used the trade fair event in Munich to network and catch up on the latest innovations.

By the halfway point of the fair, visitor numbers had approached 2019 levels. However, strikes at German airports and in local and long-distance public transport ended up slowing down the otherwise positive trend. Nevertheless, BAU achieved a very successful result despite these general conditions.

"BAU has once again proven that it is and remains the most important stage for innovations and premieres in the construction sector. Despite the forced four-year break, more companies presented in Munich than ever before. This underpins the very positive response to trade fairs and, in particular, to leading world trade fairs, as was already evident in 2022," say the two heads of the trade fair Reinhard Pfeiffer and Stefan Rummel, summing up BAU 2023.

Networking platform for planners and builders

Dieter Schäfer, Chairman of the BAU Exhibitors' Advisory Council, agrees that BAU 2023 was a great success: "We did everything right by moving BAU 2023 to April. Fully occupied halls and a high proportion of international visitors underscore the relevance of BAU. It was all the more important that the fair was held again after more than four years. In future, BAU will return to its usual January date."

In addition to the Federal Minister of Construction, Klara Geywitz, Bavaria's Minister of Economic Affairs, Hubert Aiwanger, also took a look at the innovations and trends in the building industry at BAU: "The largest trade fair for the construction industry and architects is a successful networking platform for planners and builders. We need the very innovations presented there on how to reconcile climate protection and the challenges such as affordable building and housing. The fair stands for progress, growth and competitiveness and sets the course for the future in building and urban planning."

For Felix Pakleppa, General Manager of the Central Association of the German Building Trade (Zentralverband des Deutschen Baugewerbes), BAU sends a trend-setting signal to the building industry after the long forced break: "With the key themes of digital transformation, the future of living, resources and recycling, as well as modular building, the biggest challenges and trends of the moment have been perfectly mapped out. This year, BAU thus once again offers a great platform for creating future perspectives."

Very high marks from exhibitors and among visitors

BAU's successful comeback is also reflected in the survey conducted by the Gelszus opinion research institute. Here, 93 per cent of the exhibitors rated the fair as excellent to good. Its character as a leading trade fair was recognised by 91 per cent. 90 per cent of exhibitors gave top marks for quality, 89 per cent for the internationality of the visitors.

Visitors again gave BAU 2023 top marks. Thus, 98 per cent of those surveyed rated BAU as excellent to good.

More international visitors than ever before

At the top of the international visitor rankings for BAU are Austria, Italy and Switzerland. Thanks to strong growth, Poland and Turkey take fourth and fifth place. Overall, the international share is almost 80,000 visitors. This corresponds to 40 per cent of the total number of visitors and marks a record figure. In percentage terms, the international share is thus still a good deal higher than the previous record result from 2019 (37 per cent).

Also interesting: Programme for the 2023 Glass Performance Days finalised

The number of Chinese visitors is particularly noteworthy. With 1,600 people, China is one of the top 10 visitor countries at BAU 2023, a positive surprise after the Corona restrictions on travel from China to other countries were only recently relaxed.

The next edition of BAU will be held at the Munich Exhibition Centre from 13 to 18 January 2025.