Messe München anticipates the most successful year in the company's history

The two CEOs of Messe München, Dr. Reinhard Pfeiffer and Stefan Rummel, summarise: “2025 was a year of superlatives for Messe München. Not only did we demonstrate the strength of our portfolio at the Munich location, but we also showed how important trade fairs are as a platform for innovation and international exchange. This record year is a tailwind for our strategic investments and the further development of Munich as a trade fair location.”

2025 was a mega trade fair year for Munich and the surrounding region. Eight of the 12 world-leading trade fairs in Munich's trade fair portfolio took place this year. The two trade fairs with the highest visitor numbers in Germany—IAA MOBILITY and bauma—shaped the year. A total of 18 events hosted by the trade fair center, participation and cooperations with around 21,000 exhibitors and 73 guest events with around 13,000 exhibitors attracted 2.5 million visitors to the city, demonstrating the full strength of the trade fair location. The strong visitor and exhibitor numbers are accompanied by record-high purchasing power effects. Over EUR 5 billion, of which around 80 percent is attributable to Munich and Bavaria, underlines the high relevance of trade fairs for the international and national economy as well as regional tourism. Messe München thus makes a tangible contribution to economic development and at the same time acts as a platform for innovation, business potential and international trade.

According to initial projections, Messe München will close the 2025 trade fair year with record revenues of around EUR 600 million and record earnings of EUR 100 million at Group level. EBITDA at Group level is expected to be EUR 165 million. The Munich location will make an above-average contribution to this mega trade fair year with revenues of around EUR 520 million. The bauma year, coupled with the high frequency of world-leading trade fairs, will result in record earnings of around EUR 85 million for the Munich location. EBITDA will be EUR 145 million.

Event highlights for the second half of the year at the Munich location:

After a total of nine events hosted by the trade fair center took place in Munich in the first half of 2025, including BAU, f.re.e, INHORGENTA, LOPEC, bauma, transport logistic, LASER World of PHOTONICS, automatica and World of Quantum, the focus in the second half of the year was on IAA MOBILITY, drinktec, EXPO REAL, productronica and ISPO:

• IAA MOBILITY: the combination of summit and open-space concept proves successful, attracting around 500,000 visitors to Munich. The proportion of trade visitors at the IAA Summit rose by over 13 percent compared to 2023. Based on this success, the next three editions of IAA MOBILITY will also take place in Munich. This was agreed by the two cooperation partners, the German Association of the Automotive Industry and Messe München, in September.
• drinktec: Held for the first time under the roof of Yontex and with more than 1,100 exhibitors and 58,000 visitors—around 70 percent of whom came from abroad—the trade fair once again underlined its role as the world's leading trade fair for the beverage and liquid food industry. The trade fair took place again after 2022, just three years later, and will be back in Munich in 2028.
• EXPO REAL: As the central platform for the real estate industry, the trade fair in October provided important impetus and showed that the real estate sector is regaining confidence after a period of uncertainty. Around 42,000 visitors attended the event, representing an increase of around 5 percent.
• productronica: The trade fair celebrated its 50th anniversary in November with an increase in visitor numbers of more than 10 percent and a growth in exhibitors of around 20 percent. Among the approximately 1,600 exhibitors are seven companies that have been there from the very beginning. The internationality of the exhibitors also reached a record level, with 58 percent coming from abroad.
• ISPO: The trade fair year concluded with ISPO, which will be strategically realigning itself for the coming years together with a joint venture partner.

New milestones in international business

Messe München's international business will contribute to its success in 2025 with 42 events, around 1.8 million visitors and 18,000 exhibitors abroad. Strategically important milestones have been reached in the markets: the first analytica USA and transport logistic Americas mark the trade fair's entry into the US market. In China, Messe München's most important foreign market, the Munich trade fairs continue to guarantee good figures. Despite the difficult economic environment in the trade fair industry in China, Messe München's events, including technology fairs such as ieExpo, Laser China, productronica China and electronica China, are bucking the trend and performing well. Here, too, Messe München benefits from the concentration of exhibitors and visitors at leading trade fairs in top exhibition venues. Messe München is also firmly established as a trade fair organiser in India. In 2025, 14 events took place there, including IFAT India, Indian Ceramics Asia, electronica India, productronica India, Laser World of Photonics and analytica Lab India.

In Saudi Arabia, Messe München is preparing to enter the market together with an experienced partner. The first IFAT Saudi Arabia will take place in January 2026, followed by bauma Saudi Arabia in 2027.

The CEOs of Messe München explain: “We will continue to invest in our international business and diversify there. By entering new markets with our leading trade fairs, customers get to know our brands and then also visit the respective flagship trade fair in Munich. We can clearly see that more exhibitors and visitors are coming to Munich from the countries where we are present.”

Site of the future: investment in competitiveness

The ‘Site of the Future’ project, a major undertaking at the Munich Riem location, will commence in 2026, contributing to the further enhancement and securing of the site's future competitiveness. Both end-of-life renovations and extensive modernisations and upgrades are planned. The first step in 2026 will involve defining the scope of the project in detail and conducting a comprehensive needs assessment. The construction phase is then expected to begin in 2031. By then, Messe München will have already invested over EUR 70 million in structural maintenance and modernisation of the site.

The first measures in the area of digital signage will be visible and noticeable to visitors. These will be large-scale LED installations and info screens in the hall entrances and passageways, which can be used as advertising space or for wayfinding. Following a successful pilot phase last year, the rollout will begin in 2026 with the commissioning of additional screens and steles. By 2030, the trade fair will have invested a double-digit million euro amount in this area.

Outlook for the 2026 trade fair year

The 2026 trade fair year will be a normal one again in Munich, with nine events hosted by the trade fair center at the Riem location. The year will kick off with f.re.e, INHORGENTA and LOPEC in February, followed by analytica, ceramitec, IFAT, EXPO REAL, INTERFORST and electronica.

In 2026, the investment business is expected to make a larger contribution to revenue from abroad, especially from China and India, driven by the major technology trade fairs and bauma China and bauma CONEXPO INDIA.