Alpine trade fair with Alpinforum 2024: Leading European mountain sports trade fair with specialist conference

Leading brand manufacturers, renowned experts, mountain and mountaineering organizations and institutions as well as top-class stars of the scene attracted a great deal of interest from many mountain sports enthusiasts at the Alpinmesse and Alpinforum. The trade fair and symposium, organized by Congress Messe Innsbruck (CMI) and the Austrian Board of Trustees for Alpine Safety (ÖKAS), became the central meeting point for mountain sports enthusiasts from the European Alpine region. The presentation and exchange of product innovations in combination with the top-class symposium and the comprehensive and up-to-date workshop, lecture and competition program led to a very high level of satisfaction among visitors, partners and exhibitors.

Innsbruck, 17.11.2024. The results of an independent survey show that the 17th Alpinmesse with Alpinforum is a fixed date in the calendar of the European mountain sports community. Both the 200 or so exhibiting companies and partners and the 12,400 or so visitors were highly satisfied. Christian Mayerhofer, Managing Director of Congress und Messe Innsbruck GmbH, is delighted with the high level of visitor interest: “I am thrilled to see how well the Alpine Fair with Alpine Forum has been received in Tyrol, Austria and beyond. Mountain sports are in vogue. For example, the Alpinmesse with Alpinforum 2024 provided an opportunity for exchange and dialogue between different groups, for example on technical innovations or to raise awareness of the avoidance of risks in mountain sports and the careful use of sensitive natural areas, while at the same time the focus of the event was on the joy of mountain sports. I would like to thank the Austrian Board of Trustees for Alpine Safety and the other partners for their excellent and valuable cooperation.”

ALPINMESSE: INNOVATIONS AND VARIETY INSPIRE VISITORS

Alpine sports enthusiasts from hobby athletes to mountain professionals gathered at the Innsbruck trade fair to find out about the latest innovations and trends in skiing, ski touring and freeriding, climbing and mountaineering, biking, trail running, first aid and rescue systems as well as alpine travel from around 200 exhibitors. This wide range of advice, services and information was received enthusiastically by the majority of visitors: around 90 percent of visitors gave the trade fair top marks, almost every visitor recommends the trade fair to others and intends to return to the Alpine Trade Fair with Alpine Forum. A look at the visitor structure shows that two thirds of visitors are between the ages of 20 and 40. Over 40 percent of visitors came to Innsbruck from outside Tyrol specifically for the Alpinmesse with Alpineforum.

The high level of demand from visitors, the specific requests and the high quality of the audience make the exhibitors very satisfied, as the exhibitor statements prove. Project manager Christoph Heuschneider summarizes the special structure of the Alpine Trade Fair with Alpine Forum format: “The visitors are mostly enthusiastic mountain sports enthusiasts themselves and have a great deal of specialist knowledge. This allows them to engage in intensive discussions with the manufacturers and they are very interested in the many trends and innovations presented by the exhibitors. These in turn have the opportunity to come into direct contact with their end customers and present their product innovations in a highly attractive environment, framed by a renowned specialist conference and a first-class lecture and workshop program.”

ALPINFORUM: HIGH VISITOR INTEREST WITH TOP-CLASS SPEAKERS AND CUTTING-EDGE TOPICS

The Alpinforum took place as an annual symposium of the Austrian Board of Trustees for Alpine Safety under the guiding theme of “Change & Adaptation” and offered a high-quality range of lectures and discussions. Renowned experts from international mountain guides to avalanche researchers, experts and meteorologists invited participants to exchange views on highly topical issues such as ecological changes due to climate change, adaptations in tour planning, the problem of sliding snow, alpine accidents and prevention. The Alpinforum 2024, which is essentially a specialist conference, was of great importance to a third of the visitors and was rated top marks by around 90 percent due to the topicality of the topics and the concentrated expertise of the speakers. ÖKAS President Peter Paal is delighted with the high level of popularity: “With ‘Change & Adaptation’, the Alpine Forum 2024 was able to raise awareness of a highly topical and important issue and substantiate this with relevant figures. The program was very well received, we were pleased to welcome numerous and high-quality guests and received very good feedback. The Alpine Forum is an important platform for the Austrian Board of Trustees for Alpine Safety to come into contact with various experts, multipliers, opinion leaders and an interested public. We would like to thank Congress Messe Innsbruck for the excellent cooperation.”

THE SUPPORTING PROGRAM OF THE ALPINE TRADE FAIR WAS ALSO VERY WELL RECEIVED: PRACTICAL RELEVANCE, EXPERIENCE, KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER AND COMPETITION

In addition to the top innovations from the exhibitors and the specialist presentations at the Alpine Forum, the Alpine Trade Fair with Alpine Forum stands in particular for a wide range of information and practical experience. Visitors exchanged ideas with specialists on current mountain sports topics, listened to over 30 top-class presentations and deepened their practical knowledge at over 50 workshops. Almost half of the visitors took part in the supporting program and gave it top marks with around 90 percent. The more than 900 workshop places were fully booked. Project manager Christoph Heuschneider reports: “The program, which was all about trying things out and experiencing them, was extremely well received by the visitors. The climbing moves of the Austrian bouldering elite provided thrills during the 10th BlocAlpin Boulder Cup, the informative talks with Benni Raich, Florian Grasel, Max Berger and Lukas Pöstlberger offered highly interesting insights and the exciting presentations by Lukas Wörle, Jakob Herrmann, Michael Strasser and Angelika Rainer were filled to capacity. All in all, all program items enjoyed great visitor interest.” Looking ahead to the next edition, the project manager adds: “The Alpinmesse with Alpinforum is a unique event and we look forward to being part of the mountain sports industry again next year together with the Austrian Board of Trustees for Alpine Safety.”