2021 records the overtaking of Tuttofood (Milan) over Anuga (Cologne), among food fairs in the Old Continent, in terms of number of visitors. A success that exceeds all expectations and deserves some reflections.
Tuttofood and Host, Anuga and Cibus
Fiera Milano Rho this year exceeded 150 thousand visitors, thanks to the combination of Tuttofood and Host – with the addition of Meat-Tech – simultaneously. Food products, machinery and equipment in different pavilions of the same exhibition area.
The occasion served to attract various skills – industrial and logistics, purchasing and quality, commercial and marketing – of the various actors in the supply chain, including micro-enterprises. With the booster effect of the exhibitors themselves, 2,700 in Milan last week.
Anuga – the primary reference fair for the food industry in Europe – instead took a hard hit, with only 70 thousand visitors. Not only compared to Milan but also compared to its previous edition in 2019, when tickets were 170 thousand. Cibus Parma is now out of the game, as expected, with less than 40 thousand visits. (1)
Unlikely excuses
The leitmotif of the Covid containment measures is not enough to explain the numbers above. The three fairs applied the same protocol, requiring Green Pass at entrances. Only Cologne perhaps, among the three fairs, had a historic share of non-EU visitors that could explain a drop related to the restrictions. But even this is not enough to explain its 60% drop in visits.
Someone in Parma argues that the data are falsified by the opening of Tuttofood to the general public, rather than only to industry operators, ‘like a local fair’. But the argument is not very credible, considering that the Milan fair is distinctly B2B – like the Parma one too – and ticket prices (65 euros Tuttofood, 80 Cibus) are deterrents for the general public.
Possible reasons
It is easier to understand that Milan – already the capital of fashion and furniture – is finally reaping the benefits of Expo 2015. An occasion in which both the city's connection with food and its greatness and exhibition capacity were established. In addition to the ease of organizing public transport (plane, train, metro) and accommodation.
It adds the global reputation of the Italian metropolis par excellence, epicenter of business and shopping. With an attractiveness that can compete with Paris, where the other major European food fair (Sial) is based. Objectively unreachable for Cologne and Parma, much to the disdain of Governor Stefano Bonaccini's anathemas. (2)
Prospects
The Italian industry follows the business, as is logical. And it is not the only one to have grasped the opportunities linked to Tuttofood, where a pavilion was almost entirely dedicated to foreign exhibitors. From Scandinavian countries to Asia, as well as the United States.
The challenge now, in the humble opinion of the writer, is digital innovation. Accompanying a great physical fair with its version web. On a multilingual platform that allows visitors to attend the fair and interact with exhibitors also online, effectively, sustainably, and cutting-edge.
Dario Dongo
Notes
(1) Dario Dongo. Cibus 2021, the fair of the restart? GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 6.9.21, https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/idee/cibus-2021-la-fiera-della-ripartenza
(2) Angelo Frigerio. Bonaccini stops the Cibus-Tuttofood agreement. Alimentando. 10.10.21, https://www.alimentando.info/diretta-anuga-bonaccini-stoppa-laccordo-cibus-tuttofood/
Dario Dongo, lawyer and journalist, PhD in international food law, founder of WIISE (FARE - GIFT – Food Times) and Égalité.
 su Anuga (Colonia), tra le fiere alimentari europee. Un successo che merita alcune riflessioni.){kind=link}