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Exhibit in France

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Exhibit in France

To exhibit in France means in almost all cases exhibiting within Paris. The French economy and political decision making processes are extremely centred and focused on the French capital city, Paris. Therefore are only a very few important international French trade show not following this rule, like POLLUTEC at Lyon and MIPIM at Cannes.

The French economy is diversified across all sectors. The government has partially or fully privatized many large companies, including Air France, France Telecom, Renault, and Thales. However, the government maintains a strong presence in some sectors, particularly power, public transport, and defence industries.

With at least 82 million foreign tourists per year, France is the most visited country in the world and maintains the third largest income in the world from tourism. France’s leaders remain committed to a capitalism in which they maintain social equity by means of laws, tax policies, and social spending that mitigate economic inequality. France’s real GDP stagnated in 2012 and 2013. The unemployment rate (including overseas territories) increased from 7.8% in 2008 to 10.1% in mid-2015.

The French economy is within Europe still the third largest behind Germany and UK (GDP 2014 in Euro – GER: 2.915 trillion, UK: 2.222 trill, F: 2.134 trill.).

Within greater Paris area are than 20 venues available for trade shows and all kinds of exhibitions. The internationally most relevant ones are

  • Paris Nord Villepinte (only 10 km away from main airport CDG)  9 halls with 246,000 sqm
  • Paris Porte de Versailles (really downtown Paris city)                    8 halls with 226,000 sqm
  • Paris Le Bourget (hosts i.a. Paris Air Show and Texworld)            5 halls with 80,000 sqm + 350,000 sqm outdoor

All mentioned space data are net available interior square meter exhibit area.

The Paris trade show market is clearly dominated by two strong players. On the organizer side it’s VIPARIS (:= Venues in Paris), a joint venture of the Paris Chamber of Commerce & Industry (CCIP) and the big real estate group Unibail-Rodamco. They dominate the local venue management and show organizer market by approx. 90%.

On the contractor side it’s GL events. There are several dozens of different local stand contractor and furniture rental companies available in Paris area but if you take a deeper look behind the scenes you can easily find out that the majority of the relevant local companies are connected directly or indirectly to GL events group.  Therefore don’t be surprised if your local inquiries would result in quite comparable proposals on a higher cost level.

With yearly more than 600 exhibitions of all sizes is Paris top ranking in Europe, if you look only at the bare figures. A share of more than 40% foreign exhibitors and around 25% foreign attendees at Paris business trade shows createss an absolutely international exhibition ambience. But for most branches the majority of trade shows with global impact and relevance are still running on German venues. I guess that quite a few foreigners exhibit in France and attend Paris shows also for strong sightseeing reasons and do not primarily care about the core business impact of their expenses.

Exhibit in France = Paris

To exhibit in France is slightly different from UK and Germany. The Mediterranean mentality and behaviour starts in France and increases for Italy and Spain. First of all, almost nothing will get finished on time scheduled if you do not start pushing at an early stage. Lunch break take at least 1, sometimes also 2 hours.

French labour laws restrict the weekly working hours for French employees to maximum 35 hours. For this and other legal reasons are the majority of Paris stand builders part time employed at temping agencies. Often their show specific craftsmen skills and experiences are rather limited and the working attitude is quite low.

Therefore we at EiE Exhibit House never engage local Paris or other French stand contractors. It makes much more sense to send an installation team from Eastern Europe to Paris, travelling about 1,300 km one way. Much more cost efficient and more reliable! More information about extreme labour cost differences within the European Community you can read here.