spoga + gafa
The spoga + gafa is an international garden trade fair (exhibition). The organizer is the trade fair and exhibition company Koelnmesse GmbH , the ideal sponsors are the Federal Association of the German Sports Goods Industry eV (BSI) and the Garden Industry Association (IVG).
history
The international trade fair for sporting goods, camping equipment and garden furniture was founded in 1960. The first fair had 380 exhibitors and almost 11,000 trade visitors. In 1978, when the Munich trade fair company announced that it was going to hold its own sports fair, spoga lost some segments of the sporting goods market to Munich, but is still number one in the world for some parts of the sports industry.
Between Cologne and Munich, a kind of delimitation of the areas on offer at the sports fairs emerged in the following years. Despite all Bavarian efforts, the fishing, riding, water sports, camping and garden furniture segments remained loyal to spoga. Sporting goods, shoes and sportswear were oriented towards Munich.
Equestrian sports in particular developed dynamically at spoga. The International Equestrian Center was set up in 1980 on the initiative of the equestrian department at the BSI. At that time 170 companies from 18 countries showed articles for equestrian sports. By the early 1990s, the number of exhibitors increased to almost 300.
In 1980, drawings by the Cologne caricaturist Amo Faust were used for the first time in spoga's press and advertising work. The action was such a success that it continued for several years. In 1990, the trade visitor control at the Gafa / spoga crossings was lifted. From 1991 onwards, the Cologne Trade Fair only published a joint number of visitors for both events. In 1994 an international water sports center was set up for the first time as a “fair within the fair”.
spoga + gafa, the garden fair 2018
2,152 companies from 61 countries took part in spoga + gafa 2018, 85 percent of them from abroad. These included 322 exhibitors from Germany and 1,830 exhibitors from abroad. Including estimates for the last day of the fair, spoga + gafa 2018 counted around 40,000 visitors from 114 countries. The foreign share of trade visitors was 64 percent.
Spoga + gafa 2019 is to take place from September 1st to 3rd.
Offer segments
- garden living
- garden creation & care
- garden bbq
- garden unique