According to the European Outdoor Group (EOG), first results from the latest phase of its market research programme State of Trade 2013 reveals that the outdoor sector continues to grow in Europe. Last year the overall market volume increased by 2.8%, while value rose by 3.1%.

“The European outdoor sector is in a very good healthy state and continues to mature and find its feet on the global stage,” said Mark Held, General Secretary of the European Outdoor Group (EOG).

Better interaction

Following the industry association's vote at the opening press conference, OutDoor will continue to remain for trade visitors only in the future. This was decided by the EOG as the show kicked off.

“It is clear from our discussions that we all recognise the need to find more effective ways of interacting directly with our consumers, but we were unable to see a way of achieving this with an OutDoor Public day, in such a way that would balance with the trade focus of the event as it currently stands.”

“Together with our trade and retail partners, we will continue to look at how a better interaction with the consumer might be achieved and as a group we will explore the options open to us,” Rolf Schmid, EOG President and CEO Mammut Sports Group, commented.

Anticipating developments

“The majority of EOG members were clearly opposed to a public day. We naturally back this decision. Our objective is to continue to work closely with the EOG and to implement the best-possible OutDoor trade show concept for the future requirements of the outdoor industry.”

“The status quo should always be scrutinised in order to anticipate developments in the market,” Klaus explained Wellmann, CEO Messe Friedrichshafen and Stefan Reisinger, Head of OutDoor.

www.outdoor-show.com