WE WANTED TO MAKE PALEXPO A LIVING, INNOVATIVE SPACE, A PLACE IN WHICH TO MEET AND EXCHANGE IDEAS, TO OFFER OUR GUESTS A UNIQUE EXPERIENCE.
![Favicon couleur Palexpo](https://rapports.palexpo.ch/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/cropped-favicon.png)
PALEXPO’S PURPOSE
IDENTITY
MISSION
VISION
MESSAGES FROM THE CHAIRPERSON AND THE CEO OF PALEXPO
FRANÇOIS LONGCHAMP, CHAIRPERSON OF PALEXPO
“Writing new years of great achievements”
Following the health crisis, Palexpo’s business resumed totally in 2023. We hosted 108 events and reached an occupancy rate of 47%, thus demonstrating our capacity to meet the expectations of large-scale national and international event organisers.
As a unique meeting venue where major economic, cultural, scientific, artistic, technological, and sports sectors converge thanks to its high-quality services, Palexpo helps to position Geneva on the European and global stage while at the same time contributing to its local economy. CHF 199 million worth of direct economic benefits and CHF 121 million in induced effects were generated in 2023.
Based on our belief that a successful event always starts with an innovative, connected, and responsible venue, we have reactivated our programme to invest in and renovate our buildings to comply with security and technical standards, and to take part in the development of business tourism in the region.
As a symbol of this endeavour, the extension of the convention centre embodies the growth ambitions of Palexpo. Designed according to the latest standards in sustainability and energy efficiency, this modular extension, which opened last December, offers light, modern, minimalist spaces that are perfectly suited to their purpose.
These achievements and satisfactory results are mainly due to the mobilisation and energy deployed by our teams. Year after year, we act to be in phase with new sensibilities. Aware of the mutations in our industry at a time where the needs and habits of organisers, exhibitors, and visitors are changing rapidly, Palexpo SA relies on its values and has developed a four-year business plan based on the notions of flexibility, digitalisation, an experiential dimension, and sustainable development.
As of 2024, Palexpo will therefore continue to reinvent itself to be a unique, connected, and innovative meeting and living space, equipped with the latest technologies and perfectly accessible from the centre of Geneva. In short, embody the international exhibition and convention centre of the future.
CLAUDE MEMBREZ, CEO OF PALEXPO
“After the shock wave of crises, the opportunity to reinvent ourselves”
The health and macro-economic crises in recent years may well have reshaped the market, but they also forced us to take the time and think about how to handle the change. We know that event-management remains the best way to unite, mobilise, and pull together. We also know that it needs to evolve, or even mutate, to create experiences that are more personalised, immersive, sustainable, accessible, and collaborative, and completely in line with the challenges of our times.
In the ongoing search for innovation and daring that characterises Palexpo, we have managed to rebound since 2022, and especially, to experience an exceptionally rich year in 2023. We were able to consolidate the diversity of our portfolio by hosting regular trade fairs such as Watches and Wonders Geneva and INDEX™, but also new events like Airspace World and our own brand-new exhibition, the Future of Work and Learning event, the first-ever trade show on the digital transformation of work and learning in French-speaking Switzerland. We wish it a splendid future! With a view to offer ever more innovative and unusual experiences, but also to create new opportunities within the company, I have the pleasure of announcing several new exhibition management teams, specifically in the scope of Les Automnales, for the events Love’n’more, Bébé, Junior et Nous,, and artgenève and artmonte-carlo.
This creative force that is rooted in the DNA of Palexpo has also enabled us to prepare for major trends that are now reshaping the sector. In an era where the word ‘interactive’ is gaining more and more meaning, we have amplified our presence on corporate digital channels to promote the Palexpo brand more effectively. We are increasingly present also on social media, which offer unique possibilities to highlight our events and interact with visitors in a more effective, engaging way. In this regard, I should like to single out the work done by the communication teams who were able to provide both qualitative and attractive video content to capture the attention, expand our audience, and promote our exhibitions in a media landscape that is often saturated.
In an extremely competitive environment, it also seemed essential to us to get closer to our audiences by offering them highly personalised, even bespoke events. The three sections of communication, digital marketing, and own-events management therefore decided to pool their expertise to collect, analyse and interpret the data of event participants in order to create experiences that will perfectly match their expectations and thereby contribute to Palexpo’s success in the long term. The first results are very positive and we firmly believe that this strategy of marketing-data management and analysis will play a key role in the future of our trade shows.
I wish to thank all our teams for their spirit of initiative, their mobilisation, and their great work. By turning each obstacle into an opportunity, everyone is helping to strengthen Palexpo’s competitiveness, positioning it as a key player, and contributing to the metamorphosis of our industry.
FIGURES FOR THE YEAR 2023
320
CHF 320 million
219 millions in 2022
545,007
545,007 visitors
445,500 in 2022
108
108 events
96 in 2022
47%
47% occupancy
43% in 2022
948,150 m2
948,150 m2
763,600m2 in 2022
7,115
7,115 exhibitors
200
200 employees
98.79%
98.79%
10.452
CHF 10.452 million
75.336
CHF 75.336 million
56.786 million in 2022