Interbad 2024 Review: Sustainable success

Thanks to a new concept and a new structure, interbad 2024 successfully proved to be an attractive meeting point for the industry despite challenging economic conditions. Just under 8000 visitors from 60 countries came to Stuttgart from 22nd to 24th October 2024 in order to obtain information about innovative new products from 276 exhibitors, network and discuss specific projects. Under the motto "Water is our element. Sustainability is our principle", the 30th edition of the international trade fair boasted an extended accompanying programme and trade association events on current topics and trends.

Every trade fair topic - Swimming Pool, Sauna, Spa - under one roof

"The decision to combine every trade fair topic on three days in our biggest exhibition hall - with more than twice as much space as a standard hall - turned out to be absolutely ideal," said Claudia Döttinger, Vice President of Messe Stuttgart which stages interbad together with the Deutschen Gesellschaft für das Badewesen e.V. (German Association for the Recreational and Medicinal Bath Industry, DGfdB). "This impression was confirmed to us by exhibitors and visitors alike. The new formats such as the Innovation Center went down very well. Expert visitors, advanced training and fun created an attractive visit experience overall."

Innovation Center Cube Interbad 2024 - See more photos from day 1 at interbad
©EuroSpaPoolNews

Focus on current challenges

DGfdB also drew some positive conclusions: "We are delighted that our concept to combine every exhibition area under one roof turned out to be a success," said Managing Director Christian Mankel. "A large number of visitors praised the short distances between the exhibition sections. Our newly issued publication 'Kommunale Transformation - Bäder als Akteure und Ermöglicher' (Municipal transformation - swimming pools as players and facilitators) - also went down well. We focused on current challenges and then explored ways in which swimming pools can become central players and facilitators in coping with these tasks. The beauty of this is that the trade fair and the DGfdB Congress covered both this topic and all other offerings." The 70th DGfdB Congress held during interbad attracted a total of 300 participants. It represents the largest advanced training event in the industry. With the International Session, there was also a programme in English for the first time.

High propensity to invest and extended reach

Sustainability, the focal point of the trade fair, also went down well with the trade visitors. Overall, 79 per cent of trade visitors said that this topic was important to them. In addition to the high expertise of the visitors - 88 per cent were involved in purchasing and procurement decisions in their company - the increased propensity to invest was also very pleasing. That's because 83 per cent of visitors came to Stuttgart with firm purchasing intentions. More than a quarter of visitors were planning modernisation and new construction projects with a value of more than EUR250,000. The catchment area of interbad has increased and become more international. 25 per cent of visitors came from abroad. Most of the visitors came from Austria followed by Switzerland, Finland, Czechia and the Netherlands.

Highlights, award-winning solutions and soft skills

Highly innovative solutions and product innovations were presented with the interbad Innovation Award. The company STEULER KCH GmbH was delighted to take first place in 2024 with its new BEKAPOOL pool lining which focuses entirely on sustainability and cost efficiency.

Innovations presented for the interbad Innovation Award - Discover more photos from Day 2 at interbad - ©EuroSpaPoolNews

There was great applause during the inauguration of the mobile swimming container "Wundine 3" by Theresa Schopper, Baden-Württemberg Minister of Education. The many other highlights of the trade fair included "Sauna-Impulse" with talks and workshops on quality management, special shows such as "Swimming in Atmosphere" or "Saunas from Finland" - and naturally the eagerly anticipated visits by the victorious Olympic icons Britta Steffen and Lukas Märtens.

Swimming In Atmosphere Exhibition - Discover more photos from day 3 at interbad
©EuroSpaPoolNews

A new addition to the programme was the Innovation Center with talk areas directly integrated in the exhibition hall. Keynote speeches, workshops and presentations were held there. The focal points were soft skills such as self-confidence, stress management, employer branding and gamification.

The next interbad will be held at Messe Stuttgart from 6th to 8th October 2026.

A look back at the interbad 2024 show...