Last Saturday, October 15, the 27th edition of Xylexpo, the biennial international exhibition of technology for the wood and furniture industry, closed with great satisfaction after four busy days in the halls 22 and 24 of FieraMilano-Rho. Satisfaction was tangible from the very start, supported by the desire to restore personal meetings and handshakes, which ultimately translated into positive figures for the exhibition.
Xylexpo 2022 was attended by more than 16 thousand unique visitors, a figure that reaches up to over 22 thousand visits if you consider that a single visitor came back several times over four days. Out of 16 thousand unique visitors, 12,356 were recorded at the entrance turnstiles, while at least 4 thousand – according to early but accurate estimates – came in from Viscom Italia and most of all from 33.Bimu. As you know, for the first time this year, the biennial exhibition of wood and furniture technology was held concurrently with the digital communication show and, leveraging a much more effective synergy, with the machine tools exhibition organized by Ucimu. The two events dedicated to manufacturing technology really created a virtuous circle, generating an impact that was immediately clear to the organizers during the exhibition days, and already announced in the preregistration phase, when most visitors had declared their intention to visit the parallel show.
Satisfaction was also supported by the fact that Xylexpo is probably the only post-pandemic exhibition that has achieved a number of unique visitors in line with the last pre-Covid event in 2018. The share of international visitors decreased by a few percent points (from 28 percent in 2018 to 25 percent in 2022), in line with the expectations of organizers due to the closure of markets like China, Russia and Ukraine, traditionally interested in Italian technology.
"The figures have confirmed not only the role of Xylexpo – said Luigi De Vito, president of the exhibition and Acimall – but also the decisions we made for this edition, aimed at redesigning the layout and focusing on the elements that will be the pillars of future exhibitions: a different strategy in product presentation and a strong focus on new digital services that can only expand the scope and function of an exhibition".
