The Italian Exhibition & Trade Fair Association (AEFI) has released financial figures for the first quarter of 2018, which indicate overall strong performance.
The Associazione Esposizioni e Fiere Italiane is a non-profit association established in 1983 to facilitate cooperation between Italian exhibition districts.
Its role is to support members through the development of activities and programmes in training, marketing, promotion and research.
The figures show that the number of exhibitions, total exhibitors/visitors and used event space all increased. The AEFI attributes this to a large income of visitors from Europe.
Total exhibitions increased by 20%, which was in line with the same period last year. The number of exhibitors also increased by 20%, while rented space for exhibitions increased by 16%.
A cross-section showed that Europe provided 28% of exhibitors, while Italy provided 20%, and non-EU participants providing 12%.
Turnover for the quarter increased by 20%, a clear improvement on the final quarter of 2017.
The forecast for the second quarter of 2018 is positive but cautious for all indicators.
