Aefi 2023 commented in a press release on the calendar outlined by the Conference of the Regions, which includes 267 international events and 264 national appointments.
So the made in Italy trade fair sector, for 2023, aims to relaunch the sector by aiming to recover the numbers and performances of the pre-Covid period. A goal that sees 33 international events (+14%) and 23 national reviews (+10%) more than in 2022 on the agenda.
A “back to the future” that will have to be driven – underlined the association that brings together Italian trade fairs – by the growing internationalization of the Italian trade fair offer. Driving force of an industry capable of generating an impact on territories quantifiable in over 22 billion euros a year, for an added value estimated at 10.6 billion euros (equal to 0.7% of GDP), net of business generated by companies on the occasion of b2b exhibitions.
Aefi 2023: enhancing production excellence and typicality
Maurizio Danese, president of Aefi, recalled how trade fairs are a link between the global economy and the production system and intercepting and presiding over the key markets of Made in Italy is a fundamental asset for the development of the sector. “It is a strategic choice that the operators have now undertaken, internationalising existing events and pushing the accelerator on incoming and promotion abroad, together with institutional partners. Today even small fairs are moving in this direction, with equally important repercussions on the territories where they attract high-spending business tourists”.
Aefi 2023: what advantages for companies
The protagonists in terms of representation among the international events scheduled are precisely the sectors with a marked propensity to export, starting with textiles (14% of the events) and “food, beverages and hospitality” (11%), followed by “sports, hobbies, entertainment and art”, “technology and mechanics” and “jewellery, watches and accessories”.
Among the regions, Lombardy, Emilia Romagna, Tuscany and Veneto host over 70% of international events. Lombardy, Piedmont, Campania, Emilia Romagna, Tuscany, Veneto and Puglia as regards national Italian events.
Again according to the data collected by Prometeia collected by Aefi 2023 www.aefi.it, the b2b trade fair sees the tens of thousands of Made in Italy companies involved perform 7 times better than the total of the Italian economy (+2% vs +0 .3% the average annual growth in turnover from 2012 to 2019) an over performance to which the exhibition system contributes in a distinctive way. The advantage obtained by companies that, between 2012 and 2019, believed in trade fairs can be estimated at 12.6 points of cumulative growth more than sales and 0.7 points of gross margin (Ebitda) more, compared to those who did not attended.
Aefi accounts for almost 75% of the sector’s turnover, 96% of the international events organized in Italy take place in the 41 associated districts).