Horti Fair blijft voor bundeling en kiest voor sterkere positionering
‘Against fragmentation and for a stronger commitment’
HORTI FAIR REMAINS IN FAVOUR OF BUNDLING AND GOES FOR STRONGER POSITIONING
Aalsmeer, 7 January 2010 – The International Horti Fair is still in favour of a bundling of horticultural trade fairs and is going to strengthen its positioning. This is what the board and advisory council decided at the beginning of January this year, on the basis of advice from consultancy firm Bureau Berenschot and discussions with exhibitors. In 2010 the trade fair will be held in the Amsterdam RAI as planned, from 12 to 15 October inclusive. For the following years, the Horti Fair is once more going to look into the possibility of bundling trade fairs in the first full week of November. “A stronger focus on growers as a visitor target group and a more direct board based on exhibitors are in line with this new strategy,” according to Horti Fair chairman Marius Varekamp.
Developments in national and international horticulture and changes in the ranges and role of horticultural trade shows were the reasons why the board of the Horti Fair engaged Berenschot to carry out an analysis and exploration of the future.
Exhibition period remains October in 2010
A contributing factor here was that FloraHolland had decided to move its autumn fair from October to November. Varekamp explains, “All parties would prefer to hold the trade fairs in the same period and at the same location as well, if possible. But this option is no longer feasible for us this year, which is why the Horti Fair will be staying in the Amsterdam RAI this October. The board has taken on an obligation to make a maximum effort to look at other possibilities for the future, which is in keeping with our original plans to organize all trade fair initiatives in a Holland Horti Week.”
Positioning
The new-style Horti Fair is focusing on the leading group of international horticultural entrepreneurs and growers in 2010 and will concentrate the range at the exhibition, i.e. technique, supplies, parental material and services, more emphatically on them. Completeness is more important than size in this respect and even more combination stands and theme pavilions will be developed for exhibitors who set less store by individual exposure.
The Horti Fair is intensifying its cooperation with exhibiting companies in all segments, also to combine visits to the trade show with visits to companies. “The Horti Fair’s traditional role as a platform for the introduction of innovations and the transfer of knowledge will become even stronger as a result,’’ expects Varekamp.
Management structure
There will be seats for exhibitors on the new board of the Horti Fair foundation. The present advisory council will be abolished and seats on the board have been reserved for the representatives who were members of this council. Varekamp again, “Also new in the management structure is the exhibitors’ and visitors’ council, on which stakeholders from the Netherlands and elsewhere are represented. This will increase the commitment of all sections of horticulture to their trade show.’’
,,And we are working enthusiastically towards the Horti Fair 2010,” adds Wim van der Loo, the executive director of the Horti Fair. ,,Because it has become crystal clear in the past few months, that in the International Horti Fair we have an important instrument that reinforces the national and international position of Dutch horticulture.”
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