puntoITALY Wire

SIAL

Paris (France), 16-20 October
7,000 exhibitors – 155,000 visitors

It’s a different Paris, the one that serves as a prestigious background for the 2016 edition of Sial, heavily wounded over the past two years after a series of sad events that have not, however, affected the charm that this enchanting city continues to convey to all its visitors. Except for the constant presence of the military on the corners of all the famous sites of the Ville Lumière, everything has remained unchanged, its colourful and cosmopolitan public animating the city’s days and especially its nights.
Within the pavilions of the Sial exhibition, the event confirms all its special characteristics, with over 100 nations represented in the 7,000 sqm exhibition spaces that welcome a public that is 70% foreign.
The melting pot that colours Sial is unique in its kind, animated by more than 250 events that take place over the five days of the event.
Once again the beating heart of Sial is the area dedicated to innovation, which sees 2,189 candidates vying for a slot in the spotlight in the trendiest corner of the world: innovative packaging and new flavour combinations are displayed on notice boards in the area dedicated to the news of a possible tomorrow, accompanied by valuable information on new consumer trends from the different areas of the world.
An event in which the presence of puntoItaly is a must, with the participation in the area set aside for international trade journals, this year made even more attractive and impressive by the event’s organizing committee.

HOSTELCO

Barcelona (Spain), 23-26 October
560 exhibitors – 50,000 visitors

Every two years the Barcelona trade fair area sees the arrival of Hostelco, which celebrated its 18th edition in 2016. This year was particularly significant, providing a concrete testimony of the business recovery in an area of Europe that in recent years suffered greatly in terms of business development.
In this regard, the words of Arantxa Segurado, director of Hostelco, were quite positive. “We are frankly very pleased with the results of this edition of the exhibition, with an increase of almost 20% in the number of trade visitors from all over Spain. This confirms the exhibition’s leadership role in Spain, an international benchmark for an industry that is experiencing significant recovery.” Great interest was generated by La Plaza, the area dedicated to the promotion of gelato, bread, and pastry, featuring a series of demonstrations, discussions, and tastings, Italy playing a key role in the program that covered the four days of the event.
This was a new destination for puntoItaly, adding to the rich panorama of places visited by our tour, an opportunity to get in touch with one of the most fascinating cities of Europe, the capital of Catalonia, and its rich artistic and gastronomic heritage.

SPECIALITY FOOD FESTIVAL

Dubai (UAE), 7-9 November
200 exhibitors – 15,000 visitors

In Dubai in November much Italian is spoken: this year the Speciality Food Festival added further value to the areas dedicated to Italian products, increasing available space and, more importantly, expanding opportunities for meetings and tastings.
The Italian Cuisine World Summit, in its 8th edition, featured insights that involved the main actors of the Italian culinary tradition, among others oil, pasta, coffee, regional desserts, rice, and wine, while not far away the Pizza World Summit & Pizza Up presented acrobatic performances and discussions centred on true Italian pizza. It is a manifestation that is increasingly wide ranging, with the presence of more than 50 nations among the exhibitors and areas dedicated to new players for this event, such as Spain, Poland, Korea, Portugal, and Great Britain.
For the third consecutive year, our magazine was a media partner of the event, with a physical presence in the pavilion dominated by Italian products. It was a good opportunity to talk to a diverse audience about the best Italian companies that enthusiastically distribute ingredients, equipment, display cases, and packaging around the world, and once again the great attention of visitors did not disappoint expectations.

FOOD & HOSPITALITY CHINA

Shanghai (China), 7-9 November
2,200 exhibitors – 66,000 visitors

For the 20th time in its history, Shanghai hosted Food & Hospitality China, the fall event that focuses international attention on new developments in the world of food, meat, wine, tea, and coffee: a set of interwoven specialized events that offer visitors a broad panorama of ideas.
It is one of the events organized by CIE, member of Allworld Exhibitions, responsible for 14 events in nine different Asian countries, the point of reference for all those who are interested in expanding their businesses in one of the areas in the world that is most interested in increasing its consumption of Italian products.
Its headquarters established in the heart of the area dedicated to Italian food, once again puntoItaly provided information about Italian products, as usual sparking a good level of interest in visitors.
Aggregation is one of the strengths of this event, which saw 39 national collective areas and 66 nations represented in all the pavilions, flanked by continuous events and tastings in the meeting areas provided.
By tradition Shanghai is the last stage of puntoItaly’s annual tour, an activity that has now reached the conclusion of its fifth year. It all started with the objective of focusing attention on the strength of Italian products, and the initiative continues to provide both the traveling team and colleagues behind the scenes with a high level of satisfaction, repaying the efforts made to represent Italian business in a professional manner.