FIBO 2009 with New Subtitle, Strong Focus on Health Promotion

Essen. FIBO has been given a new subtitle: it is now called the “Leading International Trade Show for Fitness, Wellness & Health.“ With this change (previously only fitness and wellness were named as themes) FIBO takes up the general developments in the market. “An increasing number of studios now aim to cater to the health requirements of their members,“ says FIBO Director Olaf Tomscheit. “And over the past three years, these customer requirements have had a growing impact on the trade show.“ Meanwhile, FIBO attracts a steadily growing number of exhibitors from the health sector; fitness and health are increasingly growing together. Health issues are one of the markets of the future. Studios take in a growing number of older members. This changes the composition of studios and as a result, fitness studios increasingly cater to the growing demand for health-related services and physiotherapy.

The change in demand in society was also highlighted in a recent study by Roland Berger on the subject of “The Second Health Market“. The tenor of this study: Germans meanwhile spend EUR 60 billion a year out of their own pockets on health and prevention. The Federal Government has also recognized the important connection between fitness and health. In spite of the fact that sickness figures in companies remain at a low level the Federal Government plans to increase its support to companies for health and prevention activities. Starting in 2009, companies will be able to deduct expenses for company health and prevention measures of up to EUR 500 per employee and year from their taxable income. The Ministry of Health sees an explicit need for action with regard to muscular and skeletal diseases which remain the principal cause of incapacity for work and generate costs amounting to 0.61 percent of the gross domestic product each year.

In the past few years the field of health promotion (Medical Fitness) has become increasingly “popular” with trade visitors, and FIBO supports this trend. The foundations have been laid, since meanwhile 17 percent of the trade visitors to FIBO are now working in therapeutic establishments. A figure which shows that FIBO has increasingly established itself in the world of health professionals. Next year, there will not only be specific advertising measures but also, for the third time, a pavilion dedicated to the topic of health promotion. Interest in this topic has risen significantly: “The topic of health pervades all FIBO segments“, explains Tomscheit. “From training equipment to company consulting – everywhere suppliers have responded to the significant increase in demand.“

FIBO 2009 will be held from 23 to 26 April 2009 as the Leading International Trade Show for Fitness, Wellness & Health at the Essen Exhibition Centre. The organisers, the FIBO Office of Reed Exhibitions Deutschland GmbH, expect more than 480 exhibitors and 50,000 visitors.