(PRESS RELEASE)VICENZA,ITALY – The Vicenzaoro January 2024 edition was the jewelry exhibition’s 70-year anniversary. Italian Exhibition Group’s boutique show closed with a 3% increase in attendance at the Vicenza Expo Centre, surpassing last January’s record edition. Moreover, at this edition, six out of ten visitors came from abroad. IEG will now begin work on a new 22,000-square-meter hall.
THE VICENZAORO JANUARY 2024 NUMBERS
Foreign attendance was confirmed at 60% of the total, arriving from 141 countries around the world, up from 136 in 2023, with Europe counting 53%, the Middle East 9.3%, Asia 10.5%, Turkey 8%, North America 7.2%, Latin America 5.1% and Africa 4.9%.
The most represented individual countries included the United States and Turkey; from Europe Spain, Germany, France, Greece and the UK; from the Middle East, the United Arab Emirates, while standing out from Asia were India, China, Japan, Thailand and Hong Kong. The largest increases were for China (+188%), Japan (+44%), Colombia (+38%), Brazil (+36%) and France (+25%). Among the new entries at Vicenzaoro: Tanzania, El Salvador and Honduras. Veneto, Lombardy, Tuscany and Piedmont confirmed an extremely positive trend for Italian attendance, which saw an overall increase of 3.2% compared to 2023.
T.GOLD ON THE RISE
At this edition, T.Gold, a renowned international innovation showcase featuring advanced machinery for goldsmithing and the latest processes applied to gold and jewelry, organized in partnership with A.F.E.M.O., saw a 4.7% increase in attendance.
TIMEPIECES.
In the timepiece segment, VO Vintage consolidated its success with exhibitors up 22% for vintage watches and jewelry open to the B2C public, with collectors, experts and watch lovers from Italy and around the world also up 13%.
INDUSTRY AND TRAINING, PASSION MAKES A COMEBACK
Gold and jewelry saw restored generational turnover in the labor market. Industry and education met at Vicenzaoro: 23 schools attended the Show, mostly from Italy and from France, Germany and the UK for a total of about 750 students and escorts, all involved in the many initiatives. In the VIOFF programme of city events, Vicenzaoro’s off-show, more than 490 students took part in the 20 events on the calendar.
THE EXPO CENTER CHANGES FACE, 2024 IS THE YEAR OF WORK ON THE NEW HALL
The close of Vicenzaoro January 2024 marked the opening of the building site that will return a new layout to the Vicenza Expo Center for the September 2026 edition. The new 22,000-square-meter hall will replace Hall 2, the historic “snail” built in 1971, and Hall 5, to provide more space for exhibitors and better “navigability” for visitors inside the building. The investment of about 60 million euros is fully financed by IEG.
“THE VICENZA SYMPOSIUM”, THE NEW EVENT ON IEG’S JEWELRY AGENDA
“The Vicenza Symposium,” scheduled to take place from September 2-4, will be added to Italian Exhibition Group’s Jewelry 2025 Agenda. Vicenza will, therefore, inherit the scientific legacy of the “Santa Fe Symposium,” which closed in 2022. A biennial event with a problem-solving approach for companies, the Symposium is the result of IEG’s collaboration with two leading companies in the T.Gold world: Legor and Xolutions.
MEDIA VISIBILITY
Total media contacts exceeded 230 million gross and professional operator viewings of exhibitor profiles on The Jewelry Golden Cloud B2B platform, which amounted to about 260, 000 (up 30% compared to VOJ23).
GLOBAL STAKEHOLDERS AND INSTITUTIONAL PARTNERS
Vicenzaoro January was proud to hostthe presence of the entire institutional and association world, which included Confindustria Federorafi, Confartigianato Orafi, Confcommercio Federpreziosi, CNA Orafi, Confimi Industria Categoria Orafa ed Argentiera to Assogemme, Assocoral and A.F.E.M.O. – Association of Jewellery Machinery Manufacturers and Exporters, CIBJO – World Jewellery Confederation, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, ITA – Italian Trade Agency.
The community’s next appointment with Vicenzaoro will be from 6th to 10th September 2024.