Carrara Fair Carrries On

MARINA DI CARRARA, Italy – The overall attendance numbers didn’t tell the whole story of CarraraMarmotec 2007, held on May 30-June 2 in this seaside Tuscan town.

Unaudited counts from this year’s natural-stone event shows 19,650 professional visitors, revealing a 3.5-percent dip in attendance, and the 426 exhibitors also dropped slightly (2.7 percent) from 2006 totals.

However, the 4,075 non-Italians attending represents a 3-percent increase from last year, and the 82 foreign exhibitors shows a 20-percent boost from 2006 – all in an exhibit area of 40,000 m², or 430,556 ft², that expanded by 73 percent from the previous year.

“We are satisfied because this year’s fair has confirmed the positive trend in marble and granite exports which have been a great incentive to Italian companies and have helped the Italian industry to maintain its position as a strong reference point on the international markets,” says Giancarlo Tonini, chairman of CarraraFiere, the exhibition ground hosting the event “This is the reason why there has been an increased number of foreigners who have been the main target for our promotions campaign.

“This was understood by the Italian companies who exhibited the best and most innovative materials and products. We shall continue to back quality as the facts show that this is the right choice.”

Of those foreign visitors, 53.4 percent came from Europe; 13.8 percent from Africa; 12.3 percent from America; 13 percent came from the Far East; and 7 percent from the Middle East. The African and American contingents grew this year from 2006 levels.

Last year was memorable for the world stone industry, which – for the first time ever – exceeded one hundred million tons of quarried material worldwide; the report came from Stone Sector, the statistics handbook published every year for CarraraMarmotec and presented at the event.

After a somewhat difficult period, “companies have invested to reorganize production and are now a more-competitive force with new products which appeal to designers and end users,” says Paris Mazzanti, managing director of CarraraFiere. “This year’s exhibition was certainly positive, and we are already at work to plan our new promotions for the coming year.”

CarraraMarmotec 2008 will be held next May 28-31. For more information, go to www.carraramarmotec.com.