The American Pet Products Association and the Pet Industry Distributors Association have announced that Global Pet Expo 2014 was a huge success, reporting record-breaking numbers in exhibitors, buyer and media attendance and total booths sold.

Experiencing an increase in growth on all fronts, the 10th Annual Show featured 5,597 buyers in attendance, a 5% increase over last year, more than 3,000 new pet product launches, 985 exhibitors and 2,896 booths sold – the highest post-show numbers to date.

Total show attendance came to nearly 14,000 people, with 289,600 square footage of exhibit space. To put those numbers in perspective, Global Pet Expo ranks  No. 72 in size out of the 10,000 shows that take place annually in the US.

"Over the past several years hosting this show in Orlando, our numbers have consistently grown at an impressive rate," said Andrew Darmohraj, APPA executive vice president. "So it was fitting that our 10th Annual Global Pet Expo once again demonstrated record-breaking numbers across the board. It was the perfect time to announce that Orlando and the Orange County Convention Center will be the official home to our show until 2019."

On a truly global front, 16% of exhibitors were international, making up 156 of the 985 exhibitors. An impressive 27% of buyers were from outside of the US, coming from 76 countries – another clear indication that Global Pet Expo has once again proved itself as a key trading opportunity for companies from around the world.