At Rimini Fiera, two days of work for AEFI members
Great success for “Trade fairs for businesses, for local areas, for Italian products”, the two days of work for the 5th edition of the annual training update seminar for members of the AEFI – Italian Exhibition and Trade Fair Association – held yesterday and today in Rimini, at the site of Rimini Fiera.
The seminar is part of the AEFI’s training programme, and this year is part of a broader series of activities that has seen the Association working to draw the attention of institutions and operators through a series of events that are international in character.
In this training session too, internationalisation has been a significant theme, since it is fundamental for the trade fair business: the first part of the meeting was dedicated to contributions from international experts, who framed the global context and the potential of certain markets for the business of our companies.
“After presenting the needs and problems of the sector to the authorities and international operators in the previous events,” stressed Giovanni Laezza, Manager of Riva del Garda Fieracongressi and Vice Chairman of the AEFI, on opening the session, “this annual seminar is the occasion to take stock of how trade fairs need to change, alter and adapt to the needs of operators to be a factor in the development of areas and of Italian products”.
“I feel compelled, in making my greeting at this event,” added Lorenzo Cagnoni, Chairman of Rimini Fiera and Vice Chairman of the AEFI “ to highlight the strategic role of the AEFI, which always, and with particular dedication and effectiveness in recent years, knows how to maintain control of the issues and battles of vital importance to our Trade Fair System.”
In the first day of work, Kai Hattendorf, Managing Director of UFI, dwelt on new trends and the most promising markets, tracing out a picture of the global trade fair system that sees investment in the sector growing in terms of infrastructure, with particular reference to China, whose government has planned a series of activities to support Trade Fairs, including the development of new districts.
Mention was made in particular of the Chinese State Council, which has to implement a series of measures and incentives, including: national coordination of exhibition districts and exhibitions; rationalisation of government–trade fair relations; definition of clear and unambiguous safety regulations; support to Chinese organisers so that they can become international and organise exhibitions abroad.
Hattendorf also previewed the data of the seventeenth economic survey carried out in June 2016, of its Global Exhibition Barometer, which illustrates, every six months, the global development of the trade fair sector. The majority of the districts involved in the survey highlighted the need to adopt models of the trade fairs that involve ever increasing integration between exhibitions and conference events, while Africa is the market in which the sector’s leading international players will concentrate their activity.
Dwelling on the collaboration between Italy and Taiwan, following the Memorandum of Understanding signed last year between the AEFI and TECA-Taiwan Exhibition & Convention Association was Christie Huang, Director of the Taiwan Center Milano, who presented information on the market’s potential, emphasising the results achieved in 2015 and the sectors that offer the greatest business opportunities for Italian trade fairs, such as clothing, mechanics and food. The Taiwanese trade fair system incorporates 227 annual exhibitions, which attract about 202,000 foreign operators. Huang also presented the development projects for the districts due to open two new venues in 2018, in Nangang and Taichung.
There was a particular focus on the Russian market thanks to the contribution of Tatiana Bashmakova, Member of the Permanent Steering Committee and President of the Members Commission for RUEF-Russian Union of Exhibitions and Fairs. The Russian trade fair sector recorded 843 exhibitions in 46 cities in 2015. The attention of local institutions involves important investment for the sector for the development of new districts.
In addition to the global situations in relation to the opportunities for the trade fair sector, the fundamental issues of the two days included case histories presented by the fair organisations in Bari, Bologna, Florence, Parma, Rimini and Riva del Garda and the accounts of important businessmen, a session dedicated to the importance of Trade Fairs as drivers for the economic development of the area, a focus on Italian products within the framework of global competition, and investigation into digital issues in the world of trade fairs.
Giuseppe Schirone, Industrial and Territorial Strategies Manager at Prometeia, outlined the medium-term prospects for AEFI’s reference Italian product sectors: technology, construction/furnishing, agri-food, leisure and fashion/beauty, contextualised with respect to macroeconomic, international and national forecasts. Prometeia’s analysis highlights the main changes in context that concern the global economy, due to which a markedly lower rate of expansion is envisaged, both with respect to the last five years and with respect to pre-crisis averages. Connected to this scenario – increasing its risk – is the Brexit question, which, at the level of the sector, may above all affect food and other consumer goods, intermediate products and mechanics, that is, the sectors in which Italian and British companies compete the most. There are some factors supporting forecast growth however, such as for example the positive confirmations from the USA and the European recovery, driven above all by consumption (private and public). In this context, the AEFI sectors generate an annual turnover of more than 970 billion euros, making up 30% of the total national economy, while the nearly 270 billion exports account for nearly two thirds of Italy’s exports. Despite these substantial figures, all sectors analysed in recent years have dropped from their places in the global marketplace and, in the absence of significant “changes in pace”, again in 2020 the dynamics of growth envisaged will not suffice to guarantee a return to levels of activity comparable to those before the crisis.
That’s why Trade Fairs play an important role and that’s why the AEFI is asking the authorities for maximum support in order to contribute to the development of the Italian economic system.
Speaking on this issue, Nicola Lener, Head of the Internationalisation Office at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, outlined the last year. Thanks to the AEFI’s collaboration with the Ministry, the Association was able to enter into relations with all the most important Embassies to present and promote the national trade fair systems and opportunities for collaboration.
Ferdinando Fiore of the Italian Trade Agency outlined the accounts for a year of Italian products, with particular reference to the positive effects of the interventions on the trade fair system, highlighting how not only Trade Fairs have benefited, but all sectors with a positive effect on our economy.
Fiore then reminded the public of the criteria for accessing the fund from the Ministry of Economic Development envisaged by the Special Italian Manufacturing Promotional Plan, stressing that project will continue into 2017 as well.
The meeting ended with a session on the Global Exhibitions Day during which the results of the first edition were illustrated, both nationally, with the AEFI event in Rome, and internationally.
Finally, it was announced that the next international date for the Global Exhibitions Day will be 7 June 2017.
AEFI – the Italian Exhibition and Trade Fair Association – was set up in 1983 with a view to generating synergies between the most significant Italian exhibition districts. Specifically, AEFI would like to be seen as a privileged partner for operators and institutions alike, and its role is to support members through the development of activities and programmes in the sphere of training, marketing, promotion and research, as well as to provide services for trade fairs through the activities of its Committees: the Exhibition Hub Technical Committee, the Administrative-Legal Committee, the Trade Fairs Network Committee, the IT and Technical Innovation Committee, and the New Initiatives and Programmes Committee.
On an international scale, AEFI represents Italian trade fairs in UFI – Union of International Fairs. Chaired by Ettore Riello, AEFI includes 34 member exhibition districts, which organise over 1,000 events a year over an overall exhibition area of 4.2 million square metres. Most international trade fairs, and 85% of all trade fairs, which take place each year in Italy, are held in AEFI-member exhibition districts.