The Swedish Exhibition & Congress Centre (SECC) celebrates its 100th anniversary in 2018; recently releasing their year-end result, which signal continued growth over the last year.
In 2017 the number of exhibition visitors to the SECC rose on average by five percent over the previous assessment. The total number of visitors to the Swedish Exhibition & Congress Centre Group, including Gothia Towers, was 1.8m. Revenue raised for the tourism sector by the SECC in 2017 totalled EUR322m, based on annual figures from SCB/the Swedish Agency for Economic and Regional Growth.
Total turnover for the Swedish Exhibition & Congress Centre Group in 2017 was EUR129m (US$158.8m). Profit after depreciation was EUR 12m. A strong cashflow of EUR19m meant that in 2017 alone the Swedish Exhibition & Congress Centre was able to reinvest EUR20m in the facilities, including new premises, a new restaurant concept, new entrance and measures to increase digitalisation.
“These results show that we are continuing to attract new visitors and business to Gothenburg. The increase in visitors to exhibitions is a sign that physical meeting places where people can meet in person are increasingly important in the digital world,” says Carin Kindbom, president and CEO of the Swedish Exhibition & Congress Centre.
“The Swedish Exhibition & Congress Centre is owned by a foundation with the mission of promoting trade and industry. We do this by generating jobs and revenue for the tourism sector, where our visitors spend time and money on shopping, taxis, hotels and restaurants in the region,” added Kindbom.
These results are backed by exhibitions in industrial and social sectors and a hotel business that has continued to show strong growth over the past year. International meetings and congresses also contributed to this positive development.
One example is ECOC, the largest fibre optic congress in Europe, which brought 4,000 visitors from Europe, Asia and North America to Gothenburg for five days.
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