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Messukeskus Helsinki last year: attendance records, prizes and 1.1 million visitors
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Messukeskus Helsinki last year: attendance records, prizes and 1.1 million visitors

A total of 1.1 million visitors attended events at Messukeskus Helsinki, Expo and Convention Centre last year. Among the events that drew great crowds were the Helsinki Book Fair, the increasingly popular I love me fair and the many international congresses held at Messukeskus.

The most popular events were the Helsinki Book Fair and the Wine and Food fair, which were held together and drew a record 91,952 visitors. The I love me fair has also become even more popular, with an increase of more than six percent on the previous year to 59,391 visitors.

In addition to its own events, Messukeskus rents out its premises for guest events, meetings and congresses. The biggest visitor events were the Dog Fair Finlandr, the Slush event for startups and entrepreneurs, Assembly, which focuses on the gaming scene, the social media influencer event Tubecon, and the Pii Poo Lego-building event. Approximately one thousand meetings were held at Messukeskus last year.

Among the largest international congresses were the European Association for International Education (EAIE) conference, which drew over 6,200 delegates from around the world, the Eurospine conference on back diseases, and the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC) conference, which brought more than 2,000 participants to Helsinki. Held for the first time in Finland, the HIMSS & Health 2.0 European Conference was organised at Messukeskus and attracted 3,000 participants–a new record for the event.

The long-term work of Messukeskus to promote congress tourism and the internationalisation of Helsinki was recognised at the end of the year with the Helsinki Travel Award.

Quality and accountability–Messukeskus recognised as number one by company leaders

Messukeskus received the best grades from Finnish decision-makers in the TEP 2019 study recently published by the market research company Taloustutkimus.  In the survey, which is designed as a tool for business managers, business influencers are asked to rate some of the most significant Finnish businesses from a variety of industries. Messukeskus gained the best ratings due to its high-quality and responsible business operations. In the questions relating to the businesses’ image, participants were asked to rate the reliability, services, expertise of employees, customer service and CRM, speed of service, suitability of business premises, price-quality-ratio and marketing communications of the selected Finnish businesses.

Last year, Messukeskus celebrated its centennial year by renewing its hotel and restaurant services and becoming an even more responsible operator, including by opening a solar power plant on its roof in accordance with the energy company Helen. The plant is one of the biggest of its kind in Helsinki.

In addition to the exhibition events, highlights this coming spring include the international hit musical We Will Rock You, based on Queen’s hits. The musical premieres in Messukeskus Amfi on 17 April. The entire Messukeskus programme: www.messukeskus.com.

Further information: Messukeskus, marketing and communications director Maria Mroue, tel. +358 50 393 4974, maria.mroue @ messukeskus.com. Communications manager Tarja Gordienko, tel. +358 50 5847 262, tarja.gordienko @ messukeskus.com.

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