Verona – The 54th edition of Vinitaly closed on Wednesday 13th April. After a two years of a forced stop due to the Covid pandemic, the largest Italian wine fair has decided to orientate itself more towards a “business” public. Although the number of visitors and wine lovers has decreased compared to previous editions (-20% of admissions), the number of professional buyers, especially foreigners, has grown. The latest figures show about 25,000 foreign buyers, being 28% of the professionals who attended the fair. This could be the first confirmation that the requests made by exhibitors in recent years of a more professional audience is justified.
The ranking of the countries of foreign buyers puts the United States and Germany at the forefront, followed by the United Kingdom. However, the attendance from the European continent represented about two thirds of the total.
Giovanni Mantovani, General Manager of Veronafiere stated that, “The Vinitaly we wanted has closed, and it was nothing to be taken for granted. We gave initial feedback after a long listening and sharing session with companies in the sector, and created a plan that will gradually reach full capacity within the next two years. Setting this record for the number of foreign buyers in such a difficult year, on the economic and geopolitical level, is anything but trivial and highlights all the determination of Veronafiere in pursuing its objectives “.
Maurizio Danese, President of Veronafiere commented that, “The role of Italian trade fairs is increasingly linked to the increase in the number of companies that are heading towards internationalisation, especially SMEs. Vinitaly, in this edition more than ever, has focused a lot on this point with a very positive result in favor of a sector morphologically characterised by small businesses. Let’s now look to 2023, with an event even more sensitive to the logic of the market and to the service and direction function of our fair, in favour of a sector that we found enthusiastic about being back in Verona after 3 years “.
