The ‘first edition’ of Spain’s Hygienalia+Pulire has been judged a success based on achieving planned visitor numbers and, perhaps more importantly, quality buyer traffic. Held inValencialate January/early February, Hygienalia+Pulire surmounted the difficult economic circumstances pervading Europe and Spain in particular.
“The organising committee’s mission has been accomplished with some 4,000 professional visitors attending (specifically 3,959), which is the figure that the organising committee proposed,” stated Reed Exhibitions Iberia’s deputy director Alberto Alonso.
Alonso highlighted ‘the quality’ of the visitors and emphasised that despite today’s economic climate, “everyone that has considered the possibility of travelling and coming toValenciato see the varied and absolutely representative supply from the whole professional cleaning and hygiene sector on show here.”
Toni D’Andrea, Afidamp Servizi managing director, co-organiser of the event, observed that Hygienalia+Pulire took place in an extremely difficult period for the domestic professional cleaning market – a segment that registered in 2011 a 13 percent decrease in sales against 2010 and a progressive contraction that has witnessed sales drop by 32 percent since 2007.
D’Andrea pointed out that the venue change from MadridtoValencia resulted in a higher proportion of visitors from that region of Spain and less from the Madrid area.
“I believe it will take two editions to consolidate the good results of this year and decree Hygienalia+Pulire as the only B2B tradeshow of the sector in the Iberian Peninsula,” said D’Andrea.
Hygienalia+Pulire boasted the participation of 138 exhibitors, of which 30 percent came from abroad.
The Hygienalia+Pulire trade fair coordinator Leila Mansouri was optimistic about the next Hygienalia+Pulire event and was confident of accomplishing an ‘even more complete’ show.
She added that, “we have done the hardest part, launching this trade fair and opening its doors to the public.”
Mansouri felt satisfied with the number of visitors in terms of their quality and number. The array of products and services on show “was interesting, which means that visitors want to return to the second edition.”