THE 2019 NATIONAL TRADE FAIR CALENDAR: ITALIAN EVENTS SUPPORTING THE COUNTRY’S DEVELOPMENT

The Conference of Regions and Autonomous Provinces has approved the 2019 National Trade Fair Calendar, which contains the main details of the fairs with an international character and of exhibitions at a national level and indicates which have been certified by certifying bodies and companies recognised by Accredia, including ISFCert.
The National Trade Fair Calendar – produced by the Productive Activities Committee of the Conference of Regions and Autonomous Provinces, which oversees and coordinates the gathering of information from the various Regions – is a useful tool that allows companies to plan their attendance and gives potential visitors a sector-by-sector overview of the national and international events that take place in our country.
From an analysis of the list of 2019 trade fairs – up to date as of 12 September 2018 – next year will entail a generous 200 international events and 224 national exhibitions. These are supplemented by multiple regional events.
The 200 international trade fairs expected to take place during 2019 focus mainly in the textile-clothing-fashion (15%), sport-hobbies-entertainment-art (12%), jewellery-watches-accessories (9%), food-drinks-hospitality (9%) and industry-technology-mechanics (7%) sectors. Lombardy, Emilia-Romagna and Veneto are the regions where the greatest numbers of international exhibitions are located.
The AEFI, with its 35 member exhibition districts, in which 96% of national trade fairs – of which 51% organised directly – will take place in 2019, highlights the importance and strategic value of Trade Fairs for the Italian economy once more: a turnover of an estimated 60 billion Euros is accomplished during the trade fairs.
To continue to be competitive and play their supporting role for companies to grow and develop on international markets, trade fairs should be increasingly supported by Institutions.
Comparing the progression of the Italian international exhibitions scheduled for 2019 with those which ran in 2017 – a comparable year due to the cyclical nature of most of the events – reveals a slight increase in the total number of international trade fairs, 200 in 2019 and 194 in 2017. Specifically, the sector analysis shows a rise in Textile-Clothing-Fashion (44 in 2019 and 41 in 2017); Sport-Hobbies-Entertainment-Art (34 in 2019 and 28 in 2017); Jewellery-Watches-Accessories (27 in 2019 and 23 in 2017); Agriculture-Forestry-Livestock (17 in 2019 and 13 in 2017); Beauty-Cosmetics (12 in 2019 and 7 in 2017).

AEFI – Associazione Esposizioni e Fiere Italiane, a private non-profit Association, was established in 1983 with the goal of generating synergies between the most important Italian exhibition districts. 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: Exhibition Hub Technical Committee, Legal-Administrative Committee, Internationalisation Committee and Trade Fairs Network Committee.
On the internationalization front, AEFI supports members thanks to agreements with strategic markets. To date, partnerships have been agreed with Iran, Taiwan, Lebanon, India, Thailand and South Africa, with AmCham, the American Chamber of Commerce in Italy, and with CENTREX, the International Exhibition Statistics Union. A memorandum of understanding has been signed with SACE and SIMEST.
AEFI has promoted the foundation of ISFCert, the Certification Institute for Exhibition Industry Statistics which, through rigorous methodologies, enables Italian organisers to present and recognise standardised data, in the name of transparency and reliability.
AEFI represents Italian trade fairs in UFI – Union of International Fairs. Chaired by Ettore Riello, AEFI includes 35 member exhibition districts, which organise over 1,000 events a year over an overall exhibition area of 4.2 million square metres. Nearly all international and national trade fairs which take place each year in Italy are held in AEFI-member exhibition districts.