Italian wine seeks growth after initial positive signs picked up at Vinitaly 2024

Desire to turn into reality those small positive signals that have arrived in this first glimpse of 2024, and to see the wine market flourish again, which, despite a still very difficult international context, is trying to resume the growth glimpsed in the post-Covid, and immediately interrupted in 2023. This is the general sentiment emerging from a Vinitaly No. 56 that closed, yesterday, with 97,000 attendees among the pavilions, with a “slight increase in foreign operators from 140 countries to 30,070 (31% of the total, U.S. in the lead, then Germany, Uk, China and Canada), of which 1. 200 top buyers (+20% over 2023) from 65 nations, selected, invited and hosted by Veronafiere in collaboration with Ice Agenzia”, explain the official numbers of the Verona fair, which is already looking ahead to 2025, when Vinitaly will be on stage April 6-9. Positive results also for Vinitaly Plus, the matching platform between supply and demand with 20,000 business appointments, doubled in this edition, and for the "Vinitaly and the City" off-show, which exceeded 50,000 tastings (+11%).
“Vinitaly consolidates its business positioning and an increasingly central role in the international promotion of Italian wine. The data from the event, together with the positive feedback from companies”, says Veronafiere president Federico Bricolo, “confirm the industrial objectives of the current governance of Veronafiere, which is strongly committed to strengthening the trade fair brand of made-in-Italy wine in the world. It goes in this direction the strengthening of collaboration with all institutional referents, today in the front line with Veronafiere in supporting the internationalization of the sector”.
“The profiling of operators is among our main strategic objectives”, comments Veronafiere CEO Maurizio Danese, “a result already achieved in the last edition, the one of Vinitaly’s turning point, and continued this year also with regard to domestic demand, in particular that of the horeca channel through communication and marketing initiatives that have contributed to the increase in Italian attendance. These days we have recorded positive reactions from companies, consortia and regional collectives. This is an injection of confidence in a complex moment that sees us committed to supporting the main product ambassador and forerunner of Italian agribusiness in the world”.
And meanwhile, closed Vinitaly 2024, the first events on the foreign calendar are confirmed: Wine to Asia in Shenzen (May 9-11, 2024); Vinitaly China Roadshow between Shanghai, Xian, Guangzhou (September 2-6, 2024); Wine South America in Bento Gonçalves, Brazil (September 3-5, 2024); Vinitaly USA in Chicago (October 20-21, 2024); and Vinitaly at Wine Vision in Belgrade (November 22-24, 2024).