(TDB) - ProWein aims to attract more visitors for this year’s show, above all from Asia and the US, according to Michael Degen, executive director of the exhibition organiser Messe Düsseldorf.

During a discussion with the drinks business yesterday, Degen said that the focus for 2016 was not expanding floor space to house more exhibitors, but raising visitor numbers, with a particular emphasis on drawing more people from growing wine markets.

“We had 52,000 visitors last year and our target for this year is 53,000,” he began.

Continuing, he said, “Our target countries for visitors are Asia and the US, because the industry is expecting visitors from these places because that is where the potential for growth is the highest.”

Admitting that the German show did not have a high profile in the US, he told db, “The potential [for increasing visitor numbers from the US] is so huge because many wine importers in the US don’t know about ProWein.”

Degen hopes to rectify this by visiting the US and “telling them about the show, and why it is relevant for them”, while this year’s show will also feature signage for US visitors to highlight those producers who export to North America.

“We have a new route around the show called Route USA for exhibitors who export to the US,” said Degen, noting that it will feature 800 exhibitors, each with an American flag on their stand.

As for Asia, Degen said that the creation of November’s ProWine China, which held its first exhibition in Shanghai in 2013, had helped bring more Chinese wine buyers to the Düsseldorf show in March.

“We have doubled the number of visitors to Düsseldorf from China each year since we launched ProWine China,” he recorded.