Ambiente closed its doors after a five-day run at Frankfurt Fair and Exhibition Centre, during which 4688 exhibitors from 81 countries (4530 exhibitors from 88 countries last year) presented new products, trends and innovations.
“Ambiente 2013 left no doubt that consumption is ‘in’, and gave an impressive demonstration of its position as the world’s leading consumer-goods fair,” says Detlef Braun, member of the executive board of organiser Messe Frankfurt. “Despite the difficult economic circumstances prevailing in parts of Europe, Ambiente was able to grow on both the exhibitor and visitors sides.”
The fair was opened by Germany’s Minister for Economics and Technology, Dr Philipp Rösler, and his French colleague, Sylvia Pinel. The French Minister for Crafts, Trade and Tourism came to Frankfurt for the opening of Ambiente as the high-level representative of this year’s Partner Country, France. On Monday, the grande dame of cinéma français – Catherine Deneuve – also visited the international consumer-goods fair, and was impressed by the creative variety and the quality of the products to be seen.
With over 140,000 visitors, Ambiente 2013 was distinguished by remarkable growth in the number of visitors (2012 – 138,058 visitors).
Nicolas Luc Villeroy, member of the board of management of Villeroy & Boch AG, says: “We are very pleased with Ambiente, and welcomed a large stream of customers to our stand throughout the fair. Our most important customers from Asia, North America and Eastern Europe, as well as our core markets, such as Germany and France, visited us here. Overall, we have been able to maintain last year’s high level and even improve on it in certain countries, such as Benelux.”
At 96%, the level of visitor satisfaction with the fair remains unchanged at the same high level as in 2012. Exhibitors were reportedly particularly pleased with the increased level of internationality at the fair. The top 10 visitor nations at Ambiente 2013 were Italy, France, The Netherlands, USA, Great Britain, Switzerland, Spain, China, the Russian Federation and Austria.
Double-digit increases in the number of visitors were achieved from the target regions of Eastern Europe (Russia and the Baltic States) and South America (Argentina and Brazil).
Growth was also noted from the booming economic regions of the Middle East (Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar) and India. More visitors also made their way to Frankfurt from important West European markets, such as Italy and the UK.
Japan will be the Partner Country of Ambiente 2014, and will offer insights into the country and its products in an extensive programme, from 7-11th February 2014.
