The number of foreign buyers have increased. This year they arrived from 140 countries whilst in 2014 they were 120. More than 2,600 journalists came from 46 countries. The domestic market shows a positive trend with the presence of many trade operators and retail chain buyers. There were about 150,000 visitors, but compared to the past editions there were many people from the Far East, like Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia. Mexico and Africa show an increase, with the presence of new interesting countries such as Cameroon and Mozambique. North Africa did well, with Egypt, Tunisia and Morocco both for wine and for Sol & Agrifood extra virgin olive oil. Ettore Riello, President of VeronaFiere, said; "The result has been reached thanks to the goal we had set ourselves. The 34% increase of investments for the incoming and the cooperation with the Ministry of Economic Development, the Agency-Ice and the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Forestry, helped to increase the already high participation of foreign buyers".
The most important geographical area in terms of presence is the one represented by the German speaking countries
"Out of more than 55,000 foreign visitors 20% consisted of big markets such as the US and Canada. The German-speaking countries, Germany, Switzerland and Austria, are still the most important in terms of presence with a 25%, the UK is in third position with 10%, followed in numerical terms by the Scandinavian and the Benelux buyers” - said Giovanni Mantovani, Director General of Verona Fiere. “We received great satisfaction from the exhibitors, as Vinitaly has been able to improve each year the number of foreign buyers and the quality of visitors, maintaining a high number of contacts, so that private companies of great importance have already signed triennial renewals for future editions". In the top ten of the countries, a great growth is shown by France that is positioned before Japan, whilst China, Hong Kong and Taiwan are in the 8th position. Russia in the ninth position, is the only one with a negative growth as a result of the difficult geopolitical situation. In the tenth position is Brazil. Presence from other EU countries, in particular from Poland and Romania are increasing.
New profiling for the visitors
Thanks also to the new profiling of the visitors adopted this year, with a further selection of the target of visitors and with the registration of all the persons entering the exhibition: this will constitute a very important database for future marketing initiatives and international development.
Optimism for the internal market
This year's Vinitaly also assists to the return of some optimism for the domestic market, with the presence of stakeholders from all over Italy, both from the on-trade channel and the big retail chains.
