The Oktoberfest is known as the Largest Volksfest (People's Fair) in the World.[14] In 1999 there were six and a half million visitors[15] to the 42 hectare Theresienwiese. 72% of the people are from Bavaria.[16] 15% of visitors come from foreign countries like the surrounding EU-countries and other non-European countries including the United States, Canada, Australia and East Asia.[17]
Besides the Oktoberfest, there are other public festivals that take place at the same location. In April/May it's the Munich Frühlingsfest (Spring Festival) and Tollwood-Festival in December with 650,000 visitors.
After the Oktoberfest the next largest people fairs in Germany are the Cannstatter Volksfest in Stuttgart with about 4.5 million visitors each year, the Cranger Kirmes in Herne (Wanne-Eickel) (the largest fair in Northrhine-Westphalia) with 4.4 million visitors, the Rheinkirmes in Düsseldorf (called Largest Fair on the Rhine) and the Freimarkt in Bremen (the biggest fair in northern Germany) with over 4 million visitors per year each. Also noteworthy is the "Schützenfest Hannover", the world's largest marksmen's Fun Fair in Hanover with over 1 million visitors per year.