The coronavirus effect is having an important impact on the trade fair system, also for the local events. It’s the situation of Lariofiere that for the moment has confirmed RistorExpo from April 26th to 29th and Agrinatura, from May 31st to June 2nd.
Here we post the Fabio Dadati’s thought. The president of Lariofiere wants to underline the importance of the trade show system and he reminds the activities put in place in order to help the exposers.
“Our way to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic is based on 2 cornerstones: the total respect of the security rules and the professional commitment that never missed.
The trade show system is fundamental for the economy. Before we talk about our companies I think it’s important to think a moment about how this crisis demonstrated the importance of the trade show system for the economics, and how much it needs professionals and vision. Without the exhibition the economy is still because, also in this digital era, the companies need direct and personal contacts, the exhibitions are the main moment of meeting with clients and where the ideas spread the most, thanks to the confrontation. The exhibitions are necessary for all the small and medium-sized enterprises, more than for the large-scale ones.
I report you an example: some years ago, when I was president of Fiera Milano Tech, I met the marketing director of an important foreign electrotechnics multinational with a headquarter in Milan. This company till the ‘90s had been investing the equivalent of some millions of euros per year in order to participate to exhibitions. In order to explain the decision of not participating to the sector manifestation he told me: “I’m no more interested in the participation, because in spite the fact I collect many contacts and I promote my products I let my Italian competitors, that are very smaller than us, to use my contacts. To us it would be if the exhibition isn’t made. In our new Milanese headquarter we have an expositive area that can receive up to 800 clients. We don’t need the exhibition, while our competitors do because of their dimensions.” His reasons are the reasons why we have to defend both the national and the regional trade show system. Think how many we’d have lost without Expo 2015 in Milan.
Lariofiere is strategic for the territory
This situation is making it clear the importance of the trade show system. Particularly Lariofiere represents a strategic area both for the productive level and for the services one for the territory. For these reasons our action is to protect our workers: we have 16 workers and two-thirds of them is working from home, while the others are spending their time off, while one is going to oversee the headquarter, but because of he’s going on his own he hasn’t any risks for hi welfare. We’re on point both with the planning and with the preparation for the confirmed events. We’re confronting with the professional associations and with our exposers.
Our goal is not to lose any edition of 2020, we hope we’ll get it. It will be important to see when this emergency situation will end and also how the companies will come out from this. We have to accept that the theme of this crisis is about the continuity of work. Saying that nobody will be fired is a beautiful claim but it will require many exceptional and structural measures once the crisis will be at our back. Without these measures, usually postponed or half made, both economics and companies won’t recover and the employment is going to decrease. I’m thinking about the fiscal reformation about the labour cost and the companies, and the bureaucracy reformation, just to begin.
In 2021 we’ll see the consequences
The difficult of companies will be evident in 2021, when many of them will close their balance passively and the entrepreneurs will have to recapitalise by putting their own money in their companies. Those who won’t be able to do this will have to close up. This is the falling point of the crisis that will risk destroying all the small and medium-sized companies in the sectors of production, services, private commerce and public one, and at the most all the touristic structures. The situation is safer for all the medium-sized and large companies that export. This year our goal is that all the companies will achieve a balanced budget, so they are remaining competitive on the market.
As we’ve seen before the participation to our exhibitions is fundamental for all the small and medium-sized companies in order to guarantee the continuity, we’re thinking about Fornitori Offresi at Ristorexpo, to the Mostra dell’Artigianato, and Agrinatura, just to mention the major ones. We want to help them together with the CCIAA of Como-Lecco, we’re asking them support for all the exposers that choose Lariofiere.
Talking about the touristic sector, we have an operative unit that works to keep active the lakecomo.is portal and also the social media. They’re also studying a solution to combat the crisis of the sector in synergy with CCIAA of Como-Lecco. We have to renounce to our participation to ITB in Berlin, one of the biggest events of the sector. We would have to participate commissioned by the Camera, but we’re ready to resume our participation to exhibitions and workshops as soon as the global crisis will be behind us. We will give our contribute to the campaigns for the relaunch of the destination “Lake Como” coordinated by Camera di Commercio and Cabina di Regia of the touristic system. I want to send a message to all the entrepreneurs: you can always count on Lariofiere, we’ll never give up thinking about the future and about how we can improve”.
President of Lariofiere
Fabio Dadati