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| Ima 2009 To Open With More Than 200 Exhibitors  IMA is growing: next year, the International Trade Fair for Amusement and Vending Machines will open in Düsseldorf with more than 200 exhibitors and again occupy Halls 8a and 8b. This will already be the third time that IMA will be staged at the Düsseldorf Exhibition Centre since its transfer from Nuremberg. The host, the German Amusement and Vending Industry Association (VDAI) is proved right by IMA's success: this year 8, 850 trade visitors from Germany and abroad came to catch up on new developments in the amusement and vending machine industry. Growth could be reported in every area: IMA 2008 showed an increase in visitor numbers of eight percent, exhibitors numbers grew by 15 percent and exhibition surface by almost 20 percent. Just under 19,000 sqm of exhibition surface were booked (2007: 16,000 sqm).The new Gambling Ordinance passed two years ago created the basis for a large range of new commercially-operated amusement machines with cash winnings. Screen-based machines and multigamblers continue to be very popular. But even the classic wheel or cylinder-based machines attract the interest of many customers. Together, these two segments make up a large proportion of the machines exhibited. In other exhibition segments, such as décor and accessories, and furnishings for amusement arcades in general, interest continues unabated. Next year, bowling will also take up considerable space at the fair: IMA 2009 and the trade magazine Bowling Business will cooperate to stage Bowling World 2009 for the first time parallel to the trade fair. During the four days of the fair manufacturers and service providers from the bowling and related sectors present their products and concepts. "Bowling continues to be a trend – especially in combination with amusement machines, " explains IMA Director Petra Lassahn. "A large number of creative design solutions offering a good combination of the two are available to exhibitors today." Moreover, this sector is of great interest to the "classic" IMA visitors looking for new areas of business. For IMA 2009, which will run from 13 to 16 January, the host, the German Amusement and Vending Industry Association (VDAI) and Reed Exhibitions Deutschland GmbH as the organiser, expect over 200 exhibitors and more than 8, 000 visitors. A broad range of amusement machines with cash winning options as well as the entire spectrum of electronic amusement machines, sports gaming machines as well as cash management systems and furnishing concepts for modern amusement arcades, will be on show. write your comments about the article :: © 2008 Exhibition News :: home page |