Golf Expo Out of Bounds

The only certainty after 26 years in the golf trade is that the industry will never agree on any one course of action.

Never has this been more clearly demonstrated than the position the trade now faces after Golf Expo in Birmingham, UK and Premiere Golf in Marbella, Spain. Reed Exhibitions had negotiated with the EGIA to acquire the Golf Expo trade show, jointly owned by the EGIA and the PGA - the final breakdown being Reed's refusal to allow the agreed previous discount for members of the EGIA who booked space.

The NEC then purchased the show with the support of the PGA and EGIA, who had both agreed not to give approval to any other trade show. In return both would receive a payment from the NEC over a period of years, provided Golf Expo continued to take place.

Golf Expo was then announced for November 2000 at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham - seems very simple and straightforward. Unfortunately that is far too simplistic for the golf trade.

Reed, although owners of the Orlando and Las Vegas trade shows, announced Premiere Golf, a European trade show, to be held in Marbella, Spain, within two weeks of Golf Expo taking place.

Despite the attractions of Spain, as opposed to Birmingham in November, one might have expected that the EGIA members would show support for their own association, who were committed to Golf Expo.

Not only would that ignore past history but additionally Reed's offered attractive incentives, not just to exhibitors, but to golf professionals and in particular to large buying groups to ensure a ready-made audience. Both shows took place and although Golf Expo published reasonable attendance figures, it is clear that Golf Expo cost the NEC a
considerable amount of money. Golf Expo was well presented, although the exhibition was short of mainstream trade exhibitors.

The NEC position is that it will stage a trade show anywhere in Europe that members of the EGIA and the PGA nominate but they will only stage a show provided they are given unqualified support. However, more than 90% of the exhibitors in Marbella have already indicated they will continue to support that show for the simple reason that a large number of their customers will attend because of the incentives on offer. If that is not a case of the tail wagging the dog, I don't know what is!!

What do the NEC do now? Choose another venue and offer a greater incentive to entice the EGIA members to attend their own show? Unless there is some dramatic change of heart within the industry, it seems unlikely there will be a Golf Expo in the coming year, whether in Birmingham or elsewhere.

Where does that leave the industry? Marbella? The former British Golf Industry Association established a very successful trade show and was able to offer significant discounts to its members to exhibit in their own show. The BGIA then became the EGIA but in reality this was a change in name only and the Association has never made itself a truly European organisation, and maybe that's at the root of the problem.

It cannot be in the best interests of the Association for it's members to be left attending trade shows organised primarily on a commercial basis rather than having an industry focus. In the long run, it must be the industry itself that is in danger of fragmenting.