The best Interzoo ever, thought many exhibitors. And that wasn't all: the 30th edition of the world's leading pet product fair was also the biggest to date.

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"World fair of the pet supplies sector excelled with a record result" was the verdict of the closing report by the organisers of Interzoo, reflecting the general sense of euphoria. And the mood of the exhibitors who had travelled to Nuremberg was good too.

"We were absolutely overwhelmed with visitors and interest at our first showing at Interzoo," commented Jill Angell of Fish4Dogs with satisfaction. And Jörg Lefers, managing director of Allco Heim-tierbedarf, even said: "That was the best Interzoo that I've attended."

Positive response

The official figures for both visitors and exhibitors were extremely positive. These show that 37 200 trade visitors came to the 30th Interzoo to check out the current trends in the sector - 9 per cent more visitors than two years ago. The trend in exhibitor numbers was even better, showing healthy growth of 13 per cent compared with Interzoo 2006. 1 436 exhibitors from 54 countries set a new record and was a clear indicator of the continuing trend at Interzoo towards internationalisation, with 77 per cent of all exhibitors coming from abroad. The leading exhibiting nations apart from Germany were Italy, China, the USA, the Netherlands, Great Britain, Belgium, France and Spain. According to the fair organisers, companies from China, Great Britain, Taiwan, India, the Netherlands, Canada, Poland, the Czech Republic, France and Spain increased their exhibition floor space significantly.

The visitor trend was similarly upwards. Interzoo 2008 attracted a greater number of visitors from all continents. The countries with the largest contingents of visitors were Germany with 14 286, Italy with 2 174, France with 1 238, the Netherlands with 1 193 and Spain with 1 192 visitors. A total of 31 989 visitors came from Europe (2006: 29 342), thus 9 per cent more than in 2006. Again, the number of visitors to the fair from eastern Europe rose substantially (+ 30 per cent). For example, there were 275 visitors from Lithuania (2006: 110), 824 visitors from Poland (2006: 666), 738 from Russia (2006: 483) and 955 from the Czech Republic (2006: 741). 5 137 visitors in all came from eastern Europe (2006: 3 950). Overseas attendance also rose - by 8 per cent to 930 from North America, by 35 per cent to 611 from South and Central America, by 23 per cent to 429 from Australia/Oceania and by 30 per cent to 373 visitors from Africa. The number of Asian visitors fell by one per cent to 2 868.

There was strong growth in the attendance from countries outside Europe, especially from Brazil with 383 visitors (2006: 259), from Israel with 471 visitors (2006: 385), South Africa with 277 visitors (2006: 200) and from India with 180 visitors (2006: 112). The number of overseas visitors rose altogether by 8 per cent to 5 211 (2006: 4 837).

Considerable growth prospects

The proportion of foreign visitors rose from 58 to 62 per cent compared with 2006. One important reason for the strong international demand was outlined by Hans-Jochen Büngener, chairman of the Interzoo fair committee: "The market continues to have growth prospects, because pets as members of the family are just being discovered in many countries." In his opinion, the European and North American pet market will remain unchanged at a high level, even if the two continents possibly lose market shares in future because new markets are being added.

At any rate, Interzoo was buzzing! Well over 10 000 visitors were registered on the first two days respectively, and even on the Saturday visitors were pouring into the exhibition halls by late morning after a slow start. On the final day, on the other hand, some halls had emptied considerably by the afternoon, with the result that the staff of many companies began dismantling their stands some hours before the fair closed. Many Chinese exhibitors in particular were keen to get out of the exhibition halls as quickly as possible on the Sunday of Interzoo. "It was an affront to visitors, who had paid a lot to get in, as well as to the other exhibitors," complained the female managing director of one German company exhibiting.

Existing trends reinforced

No major surprises or groundbreaking innovations were to be expected at this year's Interzoo. New products are further developments of existing items for the most part - a phenomenon that can be observed in other sectors of the economy too. This in no way detracts from the inventiveness of the manufacturers' R&D departments, for many of the products on display at the fair were pretty impressive and highlighted once again why the pet product sector is still continuing to exhibit strong growth worldwide.

Trends that have emerged in recent months received a strong boost at Interzoo. More than ever, the pet sector is acting trendy; never before has the cat and dog accessory segment featured such variety and such a wealth of different models as at this Interzoo. Above all, the luxury accessory megatrend continues to attract a lot of new suppliers. It is by no means the full-range suppliers that set the tone any longer in this segment, but rather smaller specialist firms with considerable flair for up-to-the-minute fashion trends.

In the aquatics sector, new developments in the "in" segment of nano-aquariums in particular attracted considerable interest. The first complete range in this field, exhibited by Dennerle (see report on page 26), should provide further impetus for this sector. An astonishing number of new products were also unveiled for marine aquariums, with Tetra's brand-new full range of products leading the way.

More advanced developments in food and health products (from organic food to diet ranges) characterised the main trends in the pet food segment. Above all, the great variety of new treat products was striking and demonstrated that this sub-segment will be extremely important in the next few years.

The next Interzoo will take place from 13 to 16 May 2010 at the Messezentrum Nürnberg.