Visitors to OutDoor 2018 from June 17 to 20, in Friedrichshafen, Germany, will be host to a range of new benefits, in part to celebrate the 25th jubilee edition of the industry summit. New initiatives include a “OutDoor Retail First” concept, which offers additional services to the retail trade and industry.
“With our Retail First initiative, we are redefining the core target group of OutDoor trade visitors and shifting our attention focus,” explained Klaus Wellmann, CEO Messe Friedrichshafen.
New benefits for retailers and wholesalers, as the target group of “OutDoor Retail First trade visitors” include free admission to the show, exclusive preferential treatment when booking nearby Eriba City accommodation and support from a Messe Friedrichshafen key account agent. The other target group of “OutDoor trade visitors,” who are not directly connected with trading, include employees of the outdoor and sport sectors from industry, agencies or travel and event organizers. A price adjustment is in place for this target group.
In addition, the Retail First concept also involves an improved invitation management system for OutDoor 2018. Retail First trade visitors will receive an invitation from exhibitors and Messe Friedrichshafen via the OutDoor website with a registration reference. After checking the registration, Messe Friedrichshafen will issue the free ticket. It is still possible to register independently as a dealer. “Our new invitation management is based on a more specific selection procedure and simplifies matters in two ways: trade visitors benefit from free admission to the show and exhibitors save themselves the trouble of having to obtain guest tickets. Furthermore, we avoid multiple tickets being ordered for the same dealer and further increase visitor quality,” says Head of OutDoor/ Eurobike Stefan Reisinger, commenting on the new idea.
Tips for visitors travelling by air: 3 airports within a radius of 100 km
Apart from the home airport of Friedrichshafen, transport in recent years has increasingly led to using Zurich and Memmingen airports. Reasons for this are the short distances and large range of flights. In 2018, both airports are offering more direct connections to the fair than before with free bus shuttles. Zurich airport also benefits from its shuttle link to Messe Friedrichshafen every 30 minutes via the combination of ferry/train or catamaran/train.
Memmingen has a large Ryanair base with connections to Great Britain, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Sweden and a number of other countries. In addition, Wizz Air offers numerous flights for Eastern Europe. Zürich not only boasts numerous worldwide connections but also a dense network of connections within Europe. Budget airlines are also increasingly expanding their service to this hub. Easyjet, for example, now offers attractive connections to Berlin and mburg as well as Great Britain, Italy, France and other destinations.
Friedrichshafen continues to benefit from its Lufthansa link to Frankfurt four times per day. A special booking code, which is listed on the OutDoor homepage under Travel, gives Lufthansa customers a discount of between 10 and 15 per cent depending on which class they have booked.
