Chamber of Commerce & Luxembourg City commune
The two main shareholders of Luxexpo The Box, the Chamber of Commerce and Luxembourg City commune, have revealed the results of a study into the overall economic importance to the Grand Duchy of the Kirchberg exhibition and conference centre. It showed that total turnover for events organised in 2017 exceeded EUR 306 million, with EUR 236 million in value added generated for the Luxembourgish economy. This translates into 2,800 jobs and EUR 100.3 million in tax receipts.
Jos Sales (vice-president of Luxexpo’s board of directors and president of the Chamber of Commerce’s Luxexpo Commission) explained why the Chamber decided to become a leading Luxexpo shareholder in 2014 [1]. He pointed to their belief that a successful exhibition and conference centre could be a powerful economic driver and an important tool to help promote the country. To support this view, the Chamber of Commerce commissioned a study to provide data about Luxexpo’s impact on the real economy.
Serge Wilmes (administrator on the Luxexpo S.A. board and first alderman of Luxembourg City commune) and Patrick Goldschmidt (vice president of the Luxexpo The Box board and alderman of Luxembourg City commune) 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.
Carlo Thelen (managing director of Luxexpo S.A. and director general of the Chamber of Commerce) gave an overview of modernisation progress. He highlighted in particular the rebranding to Luxexpo The Box, the restructured service offering, major investment for renovation and extension projects, the creation of new car parking spaces, and how staffing had been reinforced. Luxexpo The Box now features 36,654 m2 of exhibition space, and has 33 staff who generated EUR 7.8 million turnover in 2017. A total of 3,250 enterprises and more than 360,000 visitors participated in 74 events last year.
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.
EUR 306 million turnover, 2,800 jobs, and EUR 100.3 million in tax receipts
The study revealed the total annual impact in terms of turnover generated by events held at Luxexpo exceeds EUR 306 million. This consists of EUR 184 million in transactions carried out for the events, and EUR 122 million expenditure excluding purchases by exhibitors, organisers and visitors. The impact on value added/GDP is EUR 236 million, a figure arrived at by subtracting from turnover imports, multiplier effects from intermediary purchases, salaries, and additional investment. The social impact was 2,800 jobs. As for tax receipts, these were estimated using STATEC’s national accounts data, and equated to EUR 100.3 million per annum.
Analysis of the different events showed that the Home and Living Expo has the greatest economic impact by far, generating EUR 118 million turnover. In comparison, the Vakanz and Springbreak fairs resulted in sales of EUR 5 million and EUR 8 million respectively.
The survey also revealed the average spend by an exhibitor is more than EUR 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.
These results show that Luxexpo The Box generates considerable economic benefits for Luxembourg. It is more than just a tool for promoting the economy and its businesses, but is also an innovation accelerator.
Given these encouraging results, the Chamber of Commerce and Luxembourg City commune, 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. Luxexpo The Box’s development potential can only be realised if all stakeholders share the same vision and objective. The Chamber of Commerce and the City of Luxembourg thus committed themselves to contributing constructively and in a spirit of partnership to any project which could help Luxembourg host and organise conferences, exhibitions, and major trade fairs.
[1] Luxexpo S.A. shareholders are the Chamber of Commerce (56.6%), the City of Luxembourg (17.81%), BCEE (7,7%), BIL (4,98%) and half a dozen others (KBL, ING, BGL, Arcelor Mittal, Chambres des salariés, Chambre des Métiers).