Expansionary course for Glee

Many visitors would happily have spent several days at Glee, which speaks for the attractiveness of the event, according to information from the organisers, Trade Promotion Services. There was particularly lively interest from abroad, resulting in the attendance of 2 202 visitors from 84 countries outside the United Kingdom. Last year the total came to 1 482 international visitors from 67 countries. “Glee 2002 represents an important milestone for the event’s development into a prestigious international garden trade fair,” emphasised David Metcalfe, chairman and managing director of Trade Promotion Services, in an interview with DIY in Europe.
The fair organisers intend to concentrate more on exclusive product categories in the future. One example of this, according to Metcalfe, is the very successful category of landscape gardening, which was presented in three halls this year. It is expected to play a big role in the years to come as well. There was an equally positive response from both the organisers and most of the exhibitors to the integration of Petindex, the pet trade fair, into Glee.
Petindex, the pet fair now integrated into Glee, held a strong appeal for many visitors.
With the help of what David Metcalfe calls “Avant-Gardening”, a top-quality, innovative range of products, the organisers of Glee are striving for high rates of growth in the years to come in terms of both exhibitors and visitors. “We want to present the garden to visitors as an integral part of their living space,” he explained. Metcalfe went on to say that Glee considers it is favourably positioned in the competition with the market leader, the Gafa fair held in Cologne. His impression is that many in the garden industry regard the Cologne fair as an event that they feel obliged to attend, though not with any great enthusiasm, since they always find the same range of products there. As David Metcalfe said, “Companies come to Glee, on the other hand, because they find so much that is new here every year.”