Ligna 2027 with new event date

From 2017, Ligna will leave the usual event period over Ascension Day and from 2027 will continue to be held in the odd-numbered years - but detached from the public holiday - in spring in Hanover. This was decided jointly by the Ligna organizers, Deutsche Messe AG and VDMA Woodworking Machinery after intensive discussions. Ligna 2027 will be held in Hanover from Monday, May 10 to Friday, May 14, and Ligna 2029 from Monday, May 14 to Friday, May 18. The date of Ligna 2025 over Ascension Day from Monday, May 26 to Friday, May 30 remains unchanged. Stephanie Wagner, Project Manager Ligna, Deutsche Messe AG: "The decisive factor for the postponement of Ligna from 2027 is the visitor behavior on Ascension Day and the following Friday as a bridge day, which has changed over the years." A look at Ligna's history shows that the trade fair was originally deliberately scheduled for Ascension Day week. The focus of visitors on the public holiday was particularly on the skilled trades, among other things. "The leisure behavior of visitors has changed significantly in recent years. Thursday as a public holiday and the following Friday as a bridge day are increasingly being used as an extended vacation weekend, particularly by German visitors from the skilled trades sector, but also from industry. Our visitor analyses clearly confirm this. As the world's leading trade fair for the woodworking and wood processing industry, we aim to present our exhibiting companies with a high quality and quantity of national and international visitors on all five days of the fair - from all visitor target groups. From our perspective, this will only be possible if Ligna leaves the Ascension week in future," explains Wagner.

VDMA Woodworking Machinery considers a new event period for Ligna from 2027 onwards to be of fundamental importance. Dr. Bernhard Dirr, Managing Director VDMA Woodworking Machinery, Frankfurt am Main: "Efficiency is the key to a successful trade fair these days, and that applies to exhibitors and visitors alike. Time at a trade fair is valuable and needs to be used optimally. The best way to achieve this is to spread the number of visitors as evenly as possible over all days. This is exactly what the new Ligna date is designed to achieve." When rescheduling a world-leading trade fair like Ligna, many different aspects and complex interrelationships have to be evaluated and taken into account. Especially with regard to the international Ligna visitors from overseas, the proximity to Interzum in Cologne is a factor. The two trade fairs are traditionally held close to each other and together attract international visitors overseas, for example. And it is precisely these visitors who benefit from the proximity of the two thematically complementary trade fairs when planning their travel and visits efficiently. Stephanie Wagner: "We are scheduling Ligna 2027 before Interzum. From 2029, Ligna will then run parallel to interzum. By taking this step, we will enable all visitors to visit both trade fairs in a balanced and time-efficient manner and thus contribute to the average length of stay of an international visitor at European trade fairs, which according to our analyses is around 2.5 days."