The proposed alternative German trade show has been abandoned.
Two former Reed Germany executives who proposed to run an exhibition in January to replace the cancelled IMA, have given up the task.
One of them, Stephanie Gerresheim, told InterGame that without the major machine manufacturers the project was not viable. IMA was cancelled in face of the battle currently being waged between the German street market and the country’s 16 Bundesländer, the provinces, who had agreed a treaty, the application of which would seriously reduce the size of the German AWP market.
Without a principal German trade show, Gerresheim and colleague Matthias Templin were prepared to run an exhibition in Bochum on January 20 and 21 for the remainder of the German trade, lacking the support of the Gauselmann Group, the two Novomatic companies Löwen and Crown and Bally Wulff.
“We looked at it very hard,” said Gerresheim, “but it did not stack up without the major machine makers.”
