InterTabac and InterSupply: Interview with Sabine Loos at the end of the year

Trade fair boss looks back on the 2024 trade fair and announces a highlight for 2025

The (trade fair) year is drawing to a close and it’s time to look back on 2024. InterTabac and InterSupply were a complete success this year. For this reason, we put five questions to Sabine Loos, Managing Director of the Westfalenhallen Group, to review this year’s trade fair edition and then look ahead to 2025.

Dortmund, 5.12.2024 – Ms. Loos, the Christmas season and the turn of the year are just around the corner. Things are certainly quieter at Messe Dortmund, aren’t they?

Sabine Loos: “You definitely can’t say that. Of course, we successfully completed InterTabac and InterSupply as our largest event duo here at Messe Dortmund. However, these two trade fairs are only the start of our ‘trade fair fall’ every year. We still have another twelve exciting trade fairs of our own to hold until next June. These include EVO NXT next April, the innovative business festival in Milan, which is thematically closely related to InterTabac. At April 3 and 4 the focus in Italy will be exclusively on the so-called Next Generation Products. And of course, after the trade fair is always before the trade fair. With the first exhibitor applications submitted during the current InterTabac 2024, planning for the 2025 edition has long since begun.”

What were the highlights of this year’s trade fair for you?

Sabine Loos: “Of course, the incredible feedback on this year’s trade fair is one of the highlights for me. Not only did we have more than 800 exhibitors than ever before in over 40 years of trade fair history. We also set a new record for the number of visitors. What’s more, around 94 percent of them already announced their intention to return next year during the trade fair.

What I also can’t ignore among the highlights are the new formats that we have successfully introduced. Our aim is to further develop InterTabac and InterSupply every year in order to inspire our trade visitors again and again. For the first time, we joined forces with Alternative Magazine to present the ‘World Alternative Awards‘, which focus on the dynamic Next Generation Products sector. We also moved into this sector with a second premiere, the modern networking platform ‘PouchXchange‘.

I could list many more highlights here – from the interesting discussions with exhibitors and visitors from all over the world to the in-depth presentations and workshops in the supporting program and numerous product premieres. But the best thing to do next year is to come and see the uniqueness of this trade fair for yourself and visit us in Dortmund from September 18 to 20, 2025.”

You already mentioned this in the previous answer: InterTabac and InterSupply posted several record figures in 2024. How do you explain that?

Sabine Loos: “It is certainly difficult to identify THE one success factor. We can now look back on more than 40 years of InterTabac. That’s a long time. A time in which we have been able to precisely analyze our target group, their needs and the industry as a whole – both on the exhibitor and visitor side. Based on these observations, we strive to not only meet the needs and expectations of our target group every year, but at best to exceed them. For this reason, the team behind the trade fair comes up with new features every year and works hard to offer visitors and exhibitors the greatest possible added value for their companies. For example, with a constant stream of new exhibitors, a specialist program that addresses the latest topics and challenges, exciting events and a well-thought-out hall concept.

I see this constant further development, in which we have never moved away from the original core of the trade fair – the classic segment – as an absolute success factor. There are also other aspects. These include, for example, the cooperation with important partners and associations who know the needs and concerns of the industry inside out and incorporate them into the planning of the trade fair.”

Where do you see the biggest challenges for the trade fair duo?

Sabine Loos: “I believe that the biggest challenges for the trade fair overlap with those for the tobacco industry. Because when an industry is so strongly controlled by different international legal frameworks and regulations as the tobacco industry, this naturally also influences the leading trade fair in this industry and us as organizers.

Increasing digitalization is certainly one of the challenges facing trade fair operators. Even if I am of the opinion that the personal encounters and discussions that make a trade fair possible cannot be replaced by digital formats. Nevertheless, we must always stay on the ball here. For this reason, we have also developed InterTabac and InterSupply online in recent years and created an additional platform. Via the ‘Business Insights‘ on the website, manufacturers and industry experts can stay in touch throughout the year, make new contacts and expand their business relationships. This has been well received.”

What highlights and program items can you already tell us about InterTabac and InterSupply 2025?

Sabine Loos: “The planning for the 2025 edition is of course still in the early stages. We have already announced the first program highlight with the continuation of the ‘World Alternative Awards’. What I can also reveal is that the ‘PouchXchange‘ will also be going into its second round in 2025. This exclusive networking event was created specifically for the growing nicotine pouch and snus industry. The feedback was so positive that the team is already working on further developing the event. It will take place on the evening of the first day of the trade fair.

In the months leading up to the trade fair, we will be able to announce many more highlights. For example, you can be sure that InterTabac 2025 will once again feature numerous formats relating to cigars and the classic segment – whether informative or interactive. Our ‘Cigar Pairings’ and ‘Blending Tutorials’ in 2024 were already sold out before the start of the trade fair. So we are definitely working towards a sequel here.

Until then, I would like to wish all our partners, exhibitors and visitors a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I look forward to seeing you again here in the exhibition halls in 2025!”