A+A 2009 Equals 2007's Attendance
DUSSELDORF, Germany -- Final tallies will not be complete until Friday evening, but the director of A+A 2009 said Thursday that its total attendance is expected to match the 2007 event's number of about 55,000 attendees. Work has already begun on the 2011 event by the roughly 15 Messe Dusseldorf GmbH workers in the core group that plans this series of trade fairs, director Birgit Horn said.
"We know these days we have to do even more" to bring attendees and exhibitors to this and other events, Horn said. "The level of presence of the industry is still remaining," she added. "For the companies, they have to be at this show if they want to be in the market."
Horn was appointed to her position in March 2009, so this was her first taste of running the biennial A+A trade fair for safety, health and security at work. Asked how it compares with shows her company presents for other industries, she said, "It's really the emphasis that safety people are putting into their work because they protect people. You start to look at your own work differently."
About 300 members of the press attended the event, with 70 percent of them coming from German publications.