The 9th 'Zootechnia' International Fair for Livestock and Poultry, organised by TIF-Helexpo from 29 January to 1 February at Thessaloniki International Exhibition Centre, broke every previous record.
The event was the largest of all time at the level of exhibitors, who numbered 849, as compared to 578 in 2013. The previous record was made in 2009 with 812 exhibitors.
The 9th Zootechnia also achieved a record number of visitors – both members of the general public and hosted buyers – welcoming 50,354 visitors, as compared to 42,164 in 2013, and is the highest number of visitors since the Fair was first organised in 1999.
The previous record was made in 2007, when 42,808 visitors entered the gates of the Fair.
There was also an impressive increase at the level of hosted buyers, whose numbers increased by 114% compared to the previous Fair, while the number of foreign hosted buyers increased by 278%.
Furthermore, the 9th Zootechnia welcomed 69 group visits by vocational schools, associations-cooperatives and foreign delegations.
As regards the extent of achievement of the initial goals set by the exhibitors before participating in the 9th Zootechnia, the general appearance is highly satisfactory.
More than eight out of ten exhibitors rated their participation in Zootechnia between good and very good. In fact, nine out of ten are either planning to participate or examining the possibility of participating in the next Fair.
It is also noteworthy that 19% of visitors concluded commercial agreements during their visit to the Fair, while 95% of foreign hosted buyers characterised their meetings with Zootechnia exhibitors as fruitful.
Apart from the exhibition goals set for the 9th Zootechnia, the information goals were also achieved through the rich programme of parallel events that drew the interest of visitors and exhibitors.
It should be noted that Zootechnia is the only exhibition held in Greece and the Balkans specialising in the sector of animal production.
The Fair is held every two years at Thessaloniki International Exhibition Centre and hosts all the developments in the livestock-poultry sector.