Facts & Figures

In the 2021 financial year, it proved possible to stage eight of the 16 MCH exhibitions that had been scheduled. These were, gratifyingly, the three Art Basel shows in Hong Kong (as the sole MCH exhibition in the first half of the year), in Basel (postponed in time from June to September) and in Miami Beach. In addition, Ilmac and Smart Suisse were held in Basel, the Careers and Education Fairs in Zurich and Lausanne, and the Digital Festival with HackZurich in Zurich. Eight MCH exhibitions had to be either cancelled or postponed until the current year or next year: Baselworld, Igeho and the Wine Festival in Basel, SWISS-MOTO, Giardina, Powertage and IFAS in Zurich, and Masterpiece London.

Despite the pandemic situation and the restrictions on travel, the three Art Basel shows were a great success. The new “Art Basel Live” initiative was implemented for the first time at Art Basel in Hong Kong, and subsequently in Basel and Miami Beach. This is a complementary digital program with Online Viewing Rooms, virtual tours and social media transmissions. Two further Online Viewing Rooms were offered in March and June.

The five national exhibitions which it was possible to stage from September to November also underline the great need for physical industry events and meeting points. The two Career and Education Fairs in Zurich and Lausanne attracted more visitors than the last editions prior to the pandemic. And the 6th Digital Festival with the 8th HackZurich turned Zurich into the center of the European technology and digital scene for a period of four days.

Intensive work continued on the development of new formats in the course of the financial year. Ilmac in Basel saw the launch of the digital 365-day industry platform, which currently has some 6,000 registered users. Powertage in Zurich, which had to be postponed until the current year, was replaced in part at least by a virtual event. And in the case of Igeho, which had to be cancelled and will only be held again in 2023, a conference for the communal catering sector is planned for the current year.

At MCH Group’s own locations in Basel and Zurich, only 22 of the 41 scheduled exhibitions could be staged in the 2021 financial year – four of the 12 planned MCH exhibitions and 18 of the 29 planned third-party exhibitions.

At Messe Basel, only Art Basel, Ilmac and Smart Suisse were held out of the six MCH exhibitions due to take place. Details of the MCH exhibitions are included above. Ten of the planned 14 third-party exhibitions were held once the pandemic-related restrictions had been eased, including five parallel events to Art Basel, the Blickfang design fair and Fantasy Basel. An exhibition on British street artist Banksy was staged in Hall 5 from March to September 2021. In October 2021, the “Andy Warhol – Pop Art Identities” exhibition was launched, which ran until the end of January 2022.

At the Congress Center Basel too, the number of events – especially major congresses with accompanying exhibitions and large-scale corporate events (annual general meetings, company occasions, etc.) – lagged clearly behind the figure for the pre-corona years, but exceeded the figure for 2020 again. It proved possible to stage several major international events, including the BioData World Congress and the Annual Biocontrol Industry Meeting (ABIM). The Congress Center Basel additionally hosted parliamentary sessions for the Canton of Basel-Stadt and the Canton of Basel-Landschaft as well as accommodating the Basel-Stadt vaccination center. Switzerland’s biggest circus festival, YOUNG STAGE, was held in the Event Hall for the first time.

At Messe Zürich, the Zurich Career and Education Fair was the only one of the six planned MCH exhibitions that could be held. Details of the MCH exhibitions are included above. Of the 15 third-party exhibitions that had been scheduled, it was only possible to hold eight. These included the Beauty Forum Swiss, the Auto Zürich Car Show and Easyfairs’ Maintenance trade fair with its parallel events of Aqua Swiss and Pumps&Valves. In the 2021 financial year, Messe Zürich once again hosted sessions for the political authorities and served as an examination center for a number of educational institutes. It also hosted one of the Covid-19 vaccine preparation and administration centers for the Canton of Zurich.

As per 31.12.2021, MCH Group sold the operational building of Messe Basel at Isteinerstrasse 80/82 to UWP Sammelstiftung, Basel.

From mid-November 2021 to the end of 2025, Hall 3 is being rented to the Basel public transport operator (BVB) for use as a bus depot. The Canton of Basel-Stadt bought this Hall from MCH Group on 01.01.2020 and is renting it back to the group for further use until the end of 2025.

MCH Group and HRS Real Estate have signed a cooperation agreement for the development, financing and execution of the “Rosentalturm” project on the site of the current Messe Basel car park. HRS Real Estate has taken on overall management of the ongoing project, including the search for and selection of investors and the project’s implementation and marketing. The parliament of the Canton of Basel-Stadt approved the building plans in June 2020, and a project competition is being staged in the current year.

In the Live Marketing Solutions (LMS) division, a total of 1,192 projects were supervised in the 2021 financial year, 104 of which were in Switzerland, 95 in Germany, 899 in the USA, 59 in China, 20 in the UAE and 15 in other countries. The number of supervised projects is thus slightly higher than for the previous year, but is still only around one third of the number for the pre-corona year of 2019.

The figures for supervised projects reflect the dissimilar development of the pandemic and the corresponding measures put in place in the different geographical regions. After the months of lockdown, the event business picked up noticeably in the second half of 2021 – especially in the USA and UAE and, with a slight time lag, in Europe too. It still remains very depressed in Asia, however. The event business is fundamentally expecting and prepared for a return to normal in 2022.

Despite business activity being curtailed by the pandemic, the Live Marketing Solutions division benefited from the progress it had made on the planned expansion of its services and offerings prior to the outbreak of the pandemic. Today, it can offer its clients holistic experience marketing solutions for both live and digital formats and, in the 2021 financial year, it was able to implement numerous live, hybrid and digital projects worldwide. A small selection of its 2021 projects is set out below.