At the end of 2023, Vinitaly’s call to institutions and wine companies was as follows: develop a shared promotion strategy for international markets and foresee their evolution, streamline resources with a view to positioning and new business opportunities in a geopolitical and economic context with several challenges and uncertainties.

This was a guideline inspired by a unity of purpose emerged during the opening session discussing “Export Maps. Vinitaly’s efforts to promote the internationalization of Italian wine. Focus on USA, Asia and Eastern Europe” based on the sector check-up presented by the head of the UIV-Vinitaly Wine Observatory, Carlo Flamini. The Observatory’s estimated a drop in 2023 turnover compared to 2022 (-2.9%). According to the report, the downturn in operating overheads following the partial reduction in energy and raw material issues was not enough to protect the fundamental aspects of a sector which, like others, is suffering in particular from doubled interest rates as well as an increase in insolvency rates in the Horeca sector and a declining market which is having an impact on stock costs. In this regard, the Uiv-Vinitaly Observatory estimated a less drastic than expected end of last year set against the hypothetical scenario of a global recession.

The recipe Veronafiere envisaged in the strategic business plan for 2024-2026 is to strengthen Vinitaly all the more as a business vehicle, not the least in collaboration with ICE Trade (public) Agency, on behalf of a sector where promotional activities are historically fragmented into too many initiatives.

As farv as the next Vinitaly tradeshow (14-17 April 2024) is concerned, the objectives of top management at Veronafiere particularly highlight the increasingly international traction of buyers and the consequent renewal of the percentage of foreign operators attending the event, which was achieved for the last edition (31.8 %), as well as the growing impact of qualified domestic demand. The qualitative-quantitative selection of international demand will also move forwards, even through Show Previews, i.e. “buyer hunter” promotional events for Vinitaly which began in Lugano at the end of October followed by a world tour (until March 2024) taking place in Switzerland, Austria, Belgium, Germany, France, Japan, South Korea, Sweden and the UK. At the same time, international B2B trade fairs and events are also planned. After the Vinitaly-IWE event in Chicago last October 2023, we had on November 16^th Vinitaly Wine Vision by Open Balkan, where the “Italy Area” is being coordinated by the Vinitaly trade fair brand and ICE Trade Agency, and will continue in March with Vinitaly USA Roadshows in Houston and New York (4-7 March) and Vinitaly China in Chengdu (17-19 March).

After Vinitaly itself in Verona (14-17 April), Veronafiere’s 2024 international promotion calendar for Italian wine returns to Shenzen with Wine to Asia (9-11 May), Vinitaly China Roadshow, Wine South America (3-5 September) and Vinitaly Canada Roadshow (Toronto and Montreal), while Vinitaly USA in Chicago is confirmed 12-14 October 2024.