CeBIT, Europe's biggest IT tradeshow, is expecting a €6m loss this year due to declining visitors and exhibitors. Deutsche Messe AG has organised CeBIT in Hannover each spring since 1986, but attendance is dropping, with only 200,000 visitors in 2006.

CeBIT declined to confirm the expected loss, reported earlier this week by the Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung.

Initally, CeBIT had hoped for a €11m profit in 2007, but the floor space for exhibitions will probably shrink by 15 percent to less than 280,000 square meters. This year's tally of exhibitors will still be about 6,000, but big-spending exhibitors such as Konica Minolta, Lenovo, BenQ, Nokia and Motorola have all cancelled. CeBIT faces stiff competition from the IFA consumer-electronics show in Berlin and the mobile trade fair 3GSM in Barcelona.

According to Deutsche Presse-Agentur CeBIT will return to a more attractive structure for the show in 2008. The German IT industry association has already asked Deutsche Messe AG to focus more on a dedicated B2B audience.

This year's CeBIT is from March 15 to 21.®