It showed that total turnover for events organised in 2017 exceeded €306 million, with €236 million in value added generated for the Luxembourgish economy. This translates into 2,800 jobs and €100.3 million in tax receipts.
Serge Wilmes (administrator on the Luxexpo S.A. board and first alderman of Luxembourg City municipality) and Patrick Goldschmidt (vice president of the Luxexpo The Box board and alderman of Luxembourg City municipality) underlined the economic importance of this exhibition and conference centre to the country in general, and the capital in particular. They expressed their support for on-going restructuring and modernisation work that has been carried out by the board and management over the previous four years.
To ensure maximum neutrality and objectivity for the impact study, the task was given to an external service provider. They surveyed around 300 exhibitors and 1,200 visitors directly, with their feedback compared to similar studies conducted abroad, thus enabling the analysis to be put into context. Extrapolations of this data helped to build a complete model of activity.
The study revealed the total annual impact in terms of turnover generated by events held at Luxexpo exceeds €306 million. This consists of €184 million in transactions carried out for the events, and €122 million expenditure excluding purchases by exhibitors, organisers and visitors. The impact on value added/GDP is €236 million, a figure arrived at by subtracting from turnover imports, multiplier effects from intermediary purchases, salaries, and additional investment.
Analysis of the different events showed that the Home and Living Expo has the greatest economic impact by far, generating €118 million turnover. In comparison, the Vakanz and Springbreak fairs resulted in sales of €5 million and €8 million respectively.
The survey also revealed the average spend by an exhibitor is more than €15,000. Also, for eight out of ten exhibitors, Luxexpo The Box is the platform where one can meet the greatest number of visitors in a short period, generating on average 100 new useful contacts, which lead to 13 price quotations, of which one-third resulted in a contract up to three months later.
Given these encouraging results, the Chamber of Commerce and Luxembourg City municipality, as the leading shareholders, reaffirmed their commitment to Luxexpo The Box. They want to continue to maximise visibility and the economic benefits for Luxembourg, while offering local businesses a modern, dynamic “shop-window” equipped with high quality services. The global meetings, incentives, conventions, exhibitions (MICE) market is growing rapidly, but so is the competition.