Digitalisation of parking vouchers increases speed, flexibility and sustainability

Düsseldorf, 11 April 2022. In time for the re-start of the 2022 trade fair year Messe Düsseldorf serves up a new digital service: while in the past parking vouchers on the fairgrounds for exhibiting companies used to be surface-mailed to customers four to six weeks ahead of the event, they will from now on be provided in digital format only. This is made possible by the Online Order System (OOS) of Messe Düsseldorf. At the Online Shop for products and services related to trade fair appearances the issued parking vouchers will now also be available in digital format for download and/or forwarding. This new service will be offered for the first time for BEAUTY DÜSSELDORF held from 6 to 8 May.

Dr. Christian Plenge, Executive Director of Digital Strategy and Communication at Messe Düsseldorf, explains the process while emphasising the benefits of digital vouchers for on-site parking: “After receiving their printed parking vouchers by surface-mail, exhibiting companies used to have to forward them – to colleagues, dealers or foreign representatives all over the world – also by surface mail. From now on parking vouchers will be made available exclusively as a pdf file in the OOS. There they can be printed out, forwarded immediately to end users or saved for distribution at a later stage. There is not one but several benefits to this new strategy: more flexibility in terms of time in the run-up to events, less work involved and cost savings – both for our customers and for us. Furthermore, the new process is clearly more sustainable by eliminating surface mail.”

The digital parking vouchers join a number of new digital services constantly expanded by Messe Düsseldorf over the past few years. These include amongst others the interactive Hall Plan (2016), the Digital Visitor Information System (D:VIS) comprising interactive steles at the exhibition centre (2017), the Matchmaking Tool (2018), the re-launch of the trade fair Apps (2019) as well as digital exhibitor passes (2020).

At present, the focus is on “hybrid trade fairs” – the mix of an in-person event on site and digital offers. The aim is to also allow those unable to attend in person to digitally participate in a trade fair – by means of exhibitor profiles, livestreams or videos, to name but a few. “We are constantly busy further expanding and developing our digital services – always with an eye on our customers. We aim to provide them with the best service possible while designing our products to be as attractive and user-friendly as possible. Which is why the next digital services and further developments are already in the pipeline,” Plenge sums up.