Attendance up at Frankfurt Book Fair

Visitor numbers were up at this year's Frankfurt Book Fair with a slight rise of 1.% on trade visitor days and a 9.2% jump in weekend visitors. 

The 71st Frankfurt Buchmesse drew to a close on Sunday with organisers saying the fair the fair welcomed 302,267 visitors (2018: 285,024), an increase of 5.5% compared to last year. This year, 7,450 exhibitors from 104 countries participated (2018: 7,503 exhibitors from 109 countries). 

Heinrich Riethmüller, president of the German Publishers & Booksellers Association, said: “At Frankfurter Buchmesse 2019, publishers, booksellers, authors and fans of literature came together to celebrate literature and to discuss pressing social issues. The future of society, human rights and our planet were the topics that predominated at many of the discussions and events. The last five days have clearly shown that books inspire people and strengthen public debate and, with that, free and democratic societies. The industry successfully engaged in licensing deals and exchanged business ideas. In addition, we sent out important signals supporting freedom of expression.” 

The Literary Agents & Scouts Centre (LitAg) and Publishers Rights Corner moved to a new location in the Festhalle: with 355 participating agencies from 35 countries. 

Some 260 trade visitors took part in the Frankfurt Audio Summit, a half-day conference with speakers from companies including Spotify, Audible, Storytel and Wondery.

A total of 3,750 visitors took part in the conferences, networking events and workshops held in the new area that hosted THE ARTS+ and B3 Biennial of the Moving Image. 147,000 guests made their way to the innovative area in Hall 4.1. The BookFest events at the Frankfurt Pavilion and in the city itself attracted 25,000 visitors, some 5,000 of whom attended the 56 events organised in the city.