Marmomacc 2013 Hits 56K Visitors
VERONA, Italy – Marmomacc ended its 2013 edition on Saturday after hosting more than 56,000 attendees.
Stone-industry representatives from 143 countries – a new Marmomacc record – toured the four-day event at VeronaFiere to see products and services from more than 1,400 exhibitors.
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A majority (55%) of attendees came to Verona from beyond Italy’s borders this year. Germany topped the list of foreign visitors, followed by India, Spain, Turkey, France, the United States, the United Kingdom, China, Russia and Brazil.
Among exhibitors, there was an impressive turnout from Turkey, with an optimistic outlook from Erdogan Akbulak, member of the Board of Directors of IMIB, the government association that organized the country’s group attendance.
“The situation is not the same as before the crisis, but – compared to last year – I can say that it has slightly improved. I spoke with some of our exhibitors and they emphasize that the visitors they met were all highly professional.
“I am fairly optimistic, especially as regards certain markets, such as the United States.”
Flavio Marabelli, honorary president of the Confindustria Marmomacchine association of the Italian stone industry, said that “the exhibition generated very positive results and was especially encouraging as regards maintaining certain markets and developing others, both for materials and technology.
“I saw good signs from Brazil, Saudi Arabia and Asia as a whole for technology, while for materials there was promising feedback from Gulf countries and the recovery in the United States.”
Italian companies specializing in processing also sounded upbeat on this year event.
“We are satisfied, the market is definitely picking up especially on American markets, although I also saw positive signs from in other areas such as Asia,” said Carlo Varni, sales manager of Franchi Marmi. “Nonetheless, the strongest signal for us as producers of processed materials came precisely from the United States. The recovery is confirmed by attendance at the show by many U.S. buyers.”
“Our assessment is very positive because we have seen a strong recovery,” added Roberta Zanet of Marmi Bruno Zanet. “We worked well, especially on Far East markets, and we also saw a good recovery in the United States, where a good number of important architectural projects are underway.
“During Marmomacc 2013,” said Giovanni Mantovani, CEO & director general of event producer Veronafiere, “the central concept of highly qualified trade visitors was upheld, not the least through the selective efforts of Veronafiere’s international network of representatives who followed up specific programmes of b2b meetings with exhibitors in the course of the event.
“Our activities also continue in North America, alongside Hanley Wood, as well as in Middle East markets. We are also developing initiatives in Eastern Europe, especially in Russia. Evidently, the international market is working and we will have to focus on this fact for the future. It was precisely from abroad, in fact, that we recorded an increase in qualified operators, and this testifies to the fine work carried out to promote incoming attendance.”
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