Of course, he expected the comparison with the IAA, says Uwe Behm, Managing Director of the Frankfurt Exhibition Center.

It is also obvious: It was almost two years ago the last International Motor Show in Frankfurt, more than half a million visitors came back then - and not enough for the organizers, which is why they announced the move to Munich.

So is the world bike fair Eurobike following the world car show - and can it even replace it?

What a climate-political symbol that would be for the location: Away from the car and combustion engine to the bike. But trade fair managing director Behm appeased: "The Eurobike will not be a replacement for the IAA."

Falk Heunemann

Business editor in the Rhein-Main-Zeitung.

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    A lot would indeed be necessary for this: Eurobike attracted a little more than 60,000 visitors to its previous location, Messe Friedrichshafen, in the last year before the crisis.

    The IAA had a million in its prime.

    But the Frankfurter Messegesellschaft sees considerable growth potential for the bicycle fair, and for several reasons.

    Friedrichshafen became too small

    Since it was founded 30 years ago, the Radschau am Bodensee has developed from a mountain bike meeting point to the leading global trade fair for the bicycle industry. Competitors like Taipei Cycle in Taiwan or Roc D'Azur attract more visitors, but these are mainly consumer fairs, while Eurobike is aimed strongly at dealers, entrepreneurs, manufacturers and other trade visitors from all over the world. But for them the Friedrichshafen location is apparently more and more a problem, as Eurobike boss Stefan Reisinger explains. “The trade fair must be openly accessible and easy to reach - and that was only possible in parts so far.” Friedrichshafen has 85,000 square meters of space for exhibitions - the Frankfurt exhibition grounds measure almost 600,000 square meters. On the other hand, the Hessians must first fill this large area againafter all the trade fair cancellations as a result of the pandemic and the increased trend towards digital formats. The Eurobike deal is "also about the utilization of the exhibition grounds", admits the Frankfurt managing director Behm.

    In addition, the small Bodensee Airport cannot compete with Frankfurt Airport - especially since Friedrichshafen is more likely to fly to vacation spots on the Mediterranean, and not to international trading centers.

    Reisinger hopes that this location, as well as the Messe Frankfurt network, will help make the Eurobike brand better known internationally.

    How many additional visitors the organizers are hoping for, they do not say, according to reports they are hoping for 100,000 at the premiere in July 2022 in Frankfurt, a good third of them from abroad.

    “And nobody has to come to Eurobike by car anymore,” believes the Eurobike boss, because in Friedrichshafen, unlike Frankfurt, the exhibition grounds are far outside the city center and behind the airport.

    Exhibition company exhausts credit line

    In addition, the industry is growing faster than ever: In the Corona year, five million bicycles were sold in Germany, an increase of 17 percent compared to the previous year. These included almost two million e-bikes, for which significantly higher prices can be charged and which are also more maintenance-intensive due to the technology and batteries.

    In order to bring Eurobike to Frankfurt, the exhibition companies of the two cities have founded a joint venture called Fairnamic, based in Friedrichshafen, which will market both the bicycle fair and the Aero air show, which will remain on Lake Constance. Messe Friedrichshafen initially holds 51 percent of the subsidiary and Frankfurt 49 percent. That is why he cannot say what revenue can be expected for Frankfurt from Eurobike, says Behm. The exhibition company benefits financially from Eurobike mainly as a lessor to the organizer Fairnamic.

    None of the parties involved wanted to comment on the costs for Messe Frankfurt for participating in the joint venture, but they should amount to between 40 and 60 million euros. And that after a Corona year in which the trade fair company lost two thirds of its sales and suffered a loss of 122 million euros. You have to invest in an anti-cyclical way, says the Chairman of the Exhibition Board and Lord Mayor Peter Feldmann (SPD), who also explained that the exhibition company must fully exhaust its credit lines. The trade fair, which is 60 percent owned by the city of Frankfurt and 40 percent by the state of Hesse, received a loan of 150 million euros from its owners this year; last year, 280 million euros were taken out in loans.

    The Eurobike deal was a strategic decision, says Behm. They are even considering organizing the Hypermotion mobility conference “in the vicinity” of the bicycle fair, and a decision on this should be made in the next few weeks. That would be remarkable as well as symbolic: This year the Hypermotion (in 2019 it had 3,000 participants) will be held parallel to Automechanika, the leading international trade fair for car tuning and car accessories.