April 01, 2004

After nearly three years of trepidation, the long expected upturn in the ICT business has finally begun among rising optimism, and CeBIT 2004 showed that it is a vital part of it, reflecting the mood of its 6.400-plus exhibitors and 510.000 visitors. Never before - not even during the ICT boom years - have companies attending CeBIT to make their final purchasing decisions shown as much willingness to invest as in the year of 2004. Almost 50% of trade visitors at CeBIT 2004 came with actual purchase plans, and firms across all sectors made it abundantly clear that they are ready to make an active contribution to trigger an economic upturn.

The visitor attendance exceeded all expectations, with an average of 3.400 more visitors per day compared with last year - the first such rise in three years. This confirms that the decision to shorten the show by a day to the previous seven days was a favorable move on the part of Deutsche Messe AG and its exhibitors.

In opinion polls, the majority of the exactly 6.411 CeBIT exhibitors indicated far greater certainty this year that their sales would culminate in real contracts.
The number of decision makers was also up, especially among specialist resellers, SMEs and ICT management representatives. The outcome of CeBIT 2004 has undoubtedly given the sector a real boost. At the end of the show some 57% of exhibitors viewed the economic outlook for their type of business as "favorable" to "very favorable" or a good six percent more that at the start of the event. The level of optimism expressed was definitely higher higher than this time last year, when only 40% responded so.

In some key areas of bisitor profiling, CeBIT 2004 achieved better results than ever before in the 18 year history of the event. With as many as 25% of this years' visitors coming from abroad, this figure has never been higher, with the most distant region, Asia Pacific, generating an record total of 27.800 attendees. Visitors from the People's Republic of China and Taiwan almost doubled, with 7.400 trade professionals coming from that region. Even the U.S attendance statistics - considering the wake of the postSeptember 11 slump during the past two years - have risend considerably to 3.100 business visitors, compared with the 1.900 of 2003. This successful outcome of foreign attendance reflects well on Deutsche Messe AG's chosen strategy of staging CeBIT offshore events. CeBIT Asia and CeBIT America have obviously strengthened the CeBIT brand and promoted moe foreign visitors to attend the "mother of all shows" in Hannover.

According to BITKOM, the German Association for Information Technology, Telecommunications and New Media, the show was a real success. Its members reported that they were more than satisfied. "CeBIT has given us a boost that will last all year" notes BITKOM in its verdict. Exhibitors particularly praised the growing international character of the show and the high caliber of visiting business professionals, most of whom came with specific investment plans. "The sector has picked up speed as a result of this shows. CeBIT gives us confidence that we will achieve our growth forecast for the current year" BITKOM added. CeBIT exhibitors view their own export prospects in all regions of the world as better than in the previous year. The way CeBIT unfolded has also given exhibitors a particularly positive outlook on future sales in Germany, and business prospects in Europe as a whole.In all criteria used to rate the success of the show, exhibitors at CeBIT 2004 gave much better ratings than they did in the previous year: