Last week 77,500 buyers and retailers from all over the world attended the 63rd Spielwarenmesse International Toy Fair Nürnberg, compared to 79,243 in 2011.

The share of international visitors increased to 55 per cent, which organisers attributed to the fair starting on Wednesday, a day earlier than usual.

"By advancing the start of the fair, we are responding to the attendance habits of the visiting toy professionals from 119 countries and now offer them more consecutive working days," says Ernst Kick, chief executive officer of Spielwarenmesse.

There was a marked increase in visitors to the show from Russia, the US and the UK this year.

"The new date of the International Toy Fair is well-thought-out and has the desired effect," says Dirk Engehausen, chief executive officer of Lego Central Europe.

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Mark Hoijtink, general manager, Northern Europe Hasbro, agreed: "We welcomed more international visitors on our stand from Wednesday onwards. The International Toy Fair is where we meet the world."



92 per cent of the 2,776 exhibitors have said they will visit again in 2013 and 87 per cent of visitors plan to attend again next year – as many as 41 per cent of them do not visit any other fair connected with the toy industry.

Bryan Stockton, CEO at Mattel, commented: "The Spielwarenmesse International Toy Fair is the toy industry's international fair, where we meet customers from the whole of Europe and from all over the world.

"I can't imagine any better place for presenting our new products than at the International Toy Fair."