AIPH International Horticultural Expos showcase beauty and creativity, with a magnificent Expo Park attracting many international participants, who build their pavilions lasting up to six months. The sites range from the smallest of 25 hectares to the largest of 500 hectares or more. Organisers spend millions developing these international spectacles that can stimulate the economic development of entire cities and transform the international reputation of hosting regions.
Each event exposes millions of visitors to the world of horticulture and helps communicate the vital role that plants, flowers and the landscape play in improving the environment and the health and wellbeing of citizens. The Expos stimulate city greening and create better places to live.
From now until 2027, AIPH has approved the following Expos for cities in China, Turkey, Qatar, the Netherlands, South Korea, and Japan. You can see the AIPH-approved Expos calendar at https://aiph.org/expos/calendar/:
A1 World Horticultural Expos
Expo 2022 Floriade, Netherlands, 14 April–9 October 2022. Theme: Growing Green Cities
Expo 2023 Doha, Qatar, 2 October 2023–28 March 2024. Theme: Green Desert, Better Environment
World Horticultural Exhibition 2027 Yokohama, Japan, March–September 2027, Theme: Scenery of the Future for Happiness
B International Horticultural Exhibitions
Expo 2021 Yangzhou, China, 8 April–8 October 2021. Theme: Green City, Healthy Life
Expo 2021 Hatay, Turkey, 1 April–30 June 2022. Theme: Garden of Civilisations
Expo 2023 Kahramanmaraş, Turkey, 23 April–31 October 2023. Theme: Nature-Friendly City and Sensitivity
Suncheon Bay International Garden Expo 2023, South Korea, 22 April–22 October 2023. Theme: The Garden of the Earth
International Horticultural Exhibition Chengdu 2024, China, 26 April-28 October 2024. Theme: City in parks and life in poetries
Expo İzmir 2026, Turkey, 1 May-31 October 2026, Theme: Living in Harmony
C International Horticultural Show
Euroflora 2022, Italy, 23 April until 8 May 2022. Theme: Voyage of Rare Beauty
AIPH ensure Expos are successful through a defined approval and monitoring process and through regulating the number of permitted Expos. This calendar lets you know of the current dates available for your city to host. You can view the bidding calendar at https://aiph.org/expos/bidding-calendar/
Putting Sustainability at the heart of AIPH-approved Expos
We are the world’s champion for the power of plants, and AIPH is committed to a sustainable future in which humanity, technology, and nature exist in a healthy and stable equilibrium.
To cement our dedication to a sustainable future, AIPH has developed a new Sustainability Policy with regulations for Expo Organisers, with the support of Independent Sustainability Expert Mr David Stubbs. He was formerly Head of Sustainability for London 2012 Olympics & Paralympic Games. He has been working with AIPH to help us identify how we can create best practices for Expo Organisers when planning and staging horticultural Expos and continue to ensure they are the world’s most sustainable major events.
Together we identified five thematic areas related to what we do and where we believe we can make the most positive impact:
1. Climate action – using plants and green spaces to support climate adaptation and resilience programmes in urban environments
2. Biodiversity conservation – promoting nature in cities and sustainable horticultural practices worldwide
3. Sustainable sourcing and resource management – adopting circular economy principles, reducing plastic waste and other forms of pollution, supporting efficient production and ethical supply chain management
4. Equity & inclusion – promoting plant growing and green spaces for all, upholding fair and equitable practices across the horticultural value chain, diversity, and human rights
5. Education & awareness raising – engaging, informing, and inspiring people to appreciate the importance of plants and the places where they grow, and to take action to protect and enhance their local environment through plant growing
Through this work, our sustainability strategy will substantially help towards several of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
Stubbs said, “Having a programme which can support the realisation of some of these goals is a very exciting opportunity for the association.
“AIPH has the ambition for World Horticultural Expos to be recognised as among the world’s most sustainable major events. When you think about how these sites can promote biodiversity conservation and create green legacies, this is a great opportunity. It’s about helping these cities to improve their adaptation and resilience to climate change.
“We must also recognise that putting on these events can create a lot of impacts – waste, construction impacts, congestion – unless they are planned and delivered properly you don’t necessarily realise these benefits. The key to this strategy we are developing is to direct organisers to a much more sustainable approach.”
Stubbs cited the example of the London Olympic Park, which resulted in the cleaning up of a polluted river and industrial land, the use of renewable energy, sustainable materials, nature-friendly features such as streetlights that face away from the river to avoid disturbing bats – and an accessible parkland was created for people to visit and enjoy.”
A recording of this presentation is here: https://youtu.be/cAQfETkwrEc
To view forthcoming Expos visit: https://aiph.org/expos/calendar/
To look back at 60 years of AIPH Expos visit: https://aiph.org/expos/history/
To find out more about AIPH International Horticultural Exhibitions watch: https://youtu.be/y4txnEQ8szc
AIPH Expo Support Programme
The AIPH has a support programme to help stage a World International Horticultural Expo and to bring together experts from different industries, often from outside the host city, to build together and deliver benefits for all before, during and after the Expo. Our Organiser’s Expo Guide is packed full of information. You can find many details, including our regulations and applications on the Exhibitions page on our website.
AIPH would be delighted to discuss the opportunity to host an expo, so please do speak to our AIPH Senior International Relations Manager treve.evans@aiph.org
