aquanale, the International Trade Fair for Sauna. Pool. Ambience, was in fine form once again in 2017, when it was co-located with FSB, the International Trade Fair for Amenity Areas, Sports, and Pool Facilities. The trade fair’s international reach was especially impressive: 56 per cent of exhibitors and 62 per cent of visitors travelled from outside Germany to attend the event in Cologne. In total, approximately 26,600 visitors explored the 20,000 square metres of gross exhibition space to learn about the trends and innovations from the 282 exhibiting companies from 30 countries.
“aquanale continues to ride the wave of success,” said Dietmar Rogg, President of the German Association for Swimming Pools & Wellness (bsw) and General Manager of Schmalenberger GmbH + Co. KG, in his comments on the trade fair. “The exceptionally high-quality profile of the visitors from Germany and abroad is remarkable. And the synergies between aquanale and FSB provide additional momentum and opportunities to create business networks at both the national and the international level.”
The German Association for Swimming Pools & Wellness (bsw) also staged a special international highlight at aquanale in 2017. The bsw invited representatives from swimming pool industry associations from 16 countries to gather in Cologne to form an international alliance of associations. The alliance’s launch at aquanale 2017 was attended by the following countries: Austria, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Mexico, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the USA.
The event was hosted by bsw President Dietmar Rogg and bsw Vice President Bert Granderath, Ute Wanschura and Dieter C. Rangol from the bsw’s head office, Andreas Petridis, then President of the European Union of Swimming Pool and Spa Associations (EUSA), Chris Hayes, Managing Director of the British Swimming Pool Federation (BSPF), and Rich Gottwald, then President and CEO of the US Association of Pool and Spa Professionals (APSP), which is now the Pool & Hot Tub Alliance (PHTA).
The attendees agreed to begin by establishing an informal working group, which would bear the name of the World Alliance of Pool & Spa Associations (WAPSA) and would be open to swimming pool industry associations from across the globe. Following an animated debate, it was decided to initially focus on collating market data and statistics from all the associations and to share training and professional development concepts from the individual countries as well as exchanging information in the field of safety.
“An alliance of national associations to promote and protect the interests of the pool and spa industry worldwide” is how the participants summed up their shared mission.
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The highlight of the event programme for industry professionals in 2017 was the International Swimming Pool and Wellness Forum. The forum once again demonstrated its strong international appeal as a showcase for trends and as a networking and business platform. Hundreds of experts, decision makers, planners and operators registered as participants. In addition, the cooperation initiated jointly by the bsw and Koelnmesse with leading associations and organisations such as GENESIS from the US enriched the forum by providing an overview of the US swimming pool market and presenting the latest design and planning trends for private swimming pools and wellness facilities in the world’s largest market, among other insights.
aquanale’s social high point was once again the legendary trade fair party aquanight. Around 1,600 guests celebrated into the early morning hours in a special ambience with live music at the event venue Halle Tor 2 in the Rhine metropolis.
Special notice: The next edition of aquanale will be hosted from 26 to 29 October 2021. It is the tenth edition of aquanale. The globally renowned trade fair within the swimming pool and wellness industry will therefore be celebrating its anniversary.
In October, the International Trade Fair for Sauna. Pool. Ambience, will occupy Halls 7 and 8. aquanale will include the topics of private swimming pools, public pool construction, swimming pool technology, saunas and spas (both public and private) and green living. aquanale 2021 aims to build on its outstanding results from November 2019: The 2019 event had yet again achieved further impressive growth in its international reach and a further improvement in quality on both the supply and demand sides. Nearly 28,000 visitors from 128 countries attended to find out about the range of services offered by the 281 exhibiting companies from 31 countries.