Returning to the Ricoh Arena for the second year in succession, SPATEX 2015 descended upon the Jaguar Exhibition Hall over the first weekend in February.
More than 100 exhibitors took to the show floor, 30 per cent of which were new to the SPATEX arena, together presenting a vast array of products and expertise.
“We all know that an exhibition is only as good as the quality and quantity of its visitors,” commented show organiser Michele Bridle. “Coventry’s Ricoh Arena more than proved itself as the perfect venue as visitors from all over the UK arrived in their droves, rewarding us with the busiest last day in the show’s history.
“Commercial visitors more than doubled from last year and many of these had hitherto not been seen at SPATEX,” Michele added. “These included wet leisure operators from the likes of hotels, educational establishments, holiday complexes, health clubs and leisure centres. And they were of a high calibre with over 59 per cent of all visitors at senior level and 76 per cent with purchasing authority.”
Organisers have confirmed the show welcomed 1,123 unique visitors through its doors over three days, with the second day proving to be the busiest, attracting 500 trade and non-trade visitors. Training and education was at the forefront of the 2015 SPATEX show, with a double bill of education seminars on offer from the Institute of Swimming Pool Engineers (ISPE), the Swimming Teachers’ Association (STA) and the PWTAG (Pool Water Treatment Advisory Group).
Speaking of the seminar programme, Brian Guthrie of PWTAG said: “The PWTAG conference at SPATEX 2015 was a resounding success, attracting an audience drawn from a good cross section of wet leisure disciplines from leisure managers to environmental health officers and hoteliers.
“The technical seminars were warmly received as an excellent source of industry training and all free. Next year, PWTAG hopes to be able to build on this success and mount another conference at the next SPATEX.”
SPATEX 2016 will take place at the Ricoh Arena in Coventry from Sunday 31 January – Tuesday 2 February 2016.
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