News

From 2027, LIGNA will be setting a new strategic course in terms of dates. The Hannover event will skip the usual event period over Ascension Day and from 2027 onwards, will continue to be held in the odd-numbered years, in spring, but detached from the public holiday.

This was a joint decision by LIGNA organisers, Deutsche Messe AG and VDMA Woodworking Machinery, following intensive discussions. It’s been decided that LIGNA 2027 will be held in Hannover from Monday 10 to Friday 14 May; and LIGNA 2029 from Monday 14 to Friday 18 May. The 2025 date, over Ascension Day – from Monday 26 to Friday 30 May – remains unchanged.

Stephanie Wagner, Head of LIGNA, Deutsche Messe AG, said: “The decisive factor for LIGNA’s rescheduling from 2027 is the change in visitor behaviour on Ascension Day and the following Friday as a bridge day.” A look at LIGNA’s history shows that the trade fair was originally deliberately scheduled for Ascension Day week. The visitor focus on the public holiday was particularly on the skilled trades sector.

“The leisure behaviour of visitors has changed significantly in recent years. Thursday as a national public holiday and the following Friday as a bridge day are very popular as an extended vacation weekend, particularly by German visitors from the skilled trades sector, but also from the industry as a whole. Our visitor analyses clearly confirm this.

"As the world’s leading trade fair for the woodworking and wood processing industry, we want to present our exhibiting companies with a high quality and quantity of national and international visitors on all five days of the fair – from all visitor target groups. From our perspective, this will only be possible if LIGNA leaves the Ascension week in future.”

VDMA Woodworking Machinery considers a new event period for LIGNA from 2027 onwards to be of fundamental importance, as Managing Director, Dr. Bernhard Dirr, confirms: “These days, efficiency is the key to a successful trade fair, and that applies to exhibitors and visitors alike. Time at a trade fair is valuable and needs to be used optimally. This is best achieved when the number of visitors is spread as evenly as possible over the event duration, which is exactly what the new LIGNA date ensures.”

International visitor synergies with interzum in Cologne

When rescheduling a world-leading trade fair such as LIGNA, many different aspects and complex interrelationships have to be evaluated and taken into account. Especially with regard to the international LIGNA visitors from overseas, the proximity of dates to interzum in Cologne is a factor. The two trade fairs are traditionally held close together and as such, attract international visitors overseas; it’s precisely these visitors who benefit from the proximity of the two thematically complementary events when planning their travel and visits.

Stephanie Wagner continues: “We’re scheduling LIGNA 2027 before interzum, and from 2029, LIGNA will then run parallel to it. Taking this step will allow all visitors to visit both trade fairs in a balanced and time-efficient manner, thus contributing to the average length of stay of an international visitor at European trade fairs, which according to our analyses, is around 2.5 days.”

New LIGNA dates at a glance

LIGNA 2025: Monday 26 to Friday 30 May, in Hannover – unchanged

LIGNA 2027: Monday 10 to Friday 14 May, in Hannover – new

LIGNA 2029: Monday 14 to Friday 18 May, in Hannover – new

About LIGNA

The world’s leading trade fair for the woodworking and wood processing industry, LIGNA is jointly organised by Deutsche Messe and VDMA Woodworking Machinery. It showcases the entire range of products and services for the primary and secondary industries – tools, machines and systems for custom and mass production, surface technology, wood-based panel production, sawmill technology, energy from wood, machine components and automation technology, in addition to machines and systems for forestry technology.

For more information on LIGNA, see www.ligna.de.