AQUA, Europe’s largest aquatic-only trade event, and its new spin-off Water Alive consumer show have both been canceled for this year. The Ornamental Aquatic Trade Association and OATA Impact Exhibitions made the announcement today and said that it was a joint decision. The three-day show was due to run from Thursday 12 October to Saturday 14 October 2023, at Telford Conference Centre, England, and was to open its doors to the public for the first time this year too. But now sadly, neither the previously very successful trade event nor the brand-new consumer fishkeeping show it spawned will be taking place, when the UK badly needed both.
“It is regrettable this decision has had to be made but without the prospect that the event would break even then we could not commit to continue the show,” said Matt Stevenson, who sits on the board of OATA Impact Exhibitions, which organizes the show.
“When the show’s organizing committee started to look at the 2023 event, we knew we had to look at new ways to fund AQUA so it remained viable. The past few years have been a turbulent trading period for our industry, causing inevitable challenges to the trade and therefore the show’s income. Incorporating a consumer element has long been talked about within the show’s advisory group so OATA Impact Exhibition’s board made the decision to add a consumer element bringing the revenue to support AQUA,” he explained.
OATA Chief Executive Dominic Whitmee says the trade association is extremely disappointed the show will not proceed in 2023 and will take some time to explore options for the future. “OATA understands the importance of the AQUA show to the industry,” he said. “Nevertheless, there was an undoubted need to change the show to ensure it remained financially viable so we understand why the organizing committee decided to try something different with the format. We will now take stock and look at how a successful and profitable show could be organized in the future.”
What happened?
We have visited every AQUA show since its conception, as an exhibitor, a visitor, and as part of the media covering it, and it was always impeccably well-run and professional. The biennial show took a knock from covid as all events did worldwide, but this year we had high hopes and were looking forward to showing aquatic hobbyists of all types the kind of products that we (and the trade,) get to see behind the scenes. And for everyone to come together in the name of the hobby we love.
Reading between the lines, (and looking at the floor plan,) several major brands were missing for this year and we didn’t see all the retailers who we wanted to be exhibiting in the newly planned Retail Mall. Shows live and die by the revenue they make from exhibitor bookings as they have to pay for the hire of the hall after all, and AQUA is a not-for-profit show.
One million fewer aquariums
But the latest Pet Food UK’s Pet Population data reveals that in 2023 there are one million fewer aquariums and half a million fewer garden ponds in Britain than there were in 2022, and that will be taking a huge financial toll on the UK aquatic industry that is already struggling due to inflation and sky-high energy costs. So just when the UK industry really needed an aquatic show to boost sales and the number of people participating in the aquatic hobby, it looks like it just can’t afford one.
