London Wine Fair sees visitor decline but improvement in audience quality

The London Wine Fair has reported a decline of 8% in visitor numbers for this year’s show, but an increase in the quality of the overall audience attending the event.

The show, which took place at Kensington Olympia this week, had a goal of building on last year’s event, especially in terms of “investing heavily” in visitor quality, it said.

Total (net) visitors for 2024 were 9,243, which was 8% down on 2023, with the visitor audience “almost identical to 2023” according to the Fair, with 31% from the on-trade (31% in 2023) and 22% from off-trade (21% in 2023).

Quality

Although the number of visitors was slightly down, it said the quality of the audience was “most definitely up”. It saw 41% of attendees engage with its ‘essential planner’ tool, which was a big increase on the 12% last year.

It also said that audience quality was corroborated by exhibitors’ responses.

The visitor to exhibitor ratio was 23 visitors to each exhibitor this year, which was four times that of the Fair’s larger competitors, it said.

Static

Exhibitor numbers were “fairly static” compared to 2023, with 401 companies attending the show, including Hatch Mansfield, Felix Solis, ABS and Mentzendorff, and declining by 16 on last year.

The US was also presented by New York Wines, which was at the Fair for the first time, as well as a contingent from California. Japan was present for the first time too, with a country pavilion and a focus on saké.

Challenging times

Commenting on the 2024 show performance, head of the Fair, Hannah Tovey said: “We are extremely pleased with the 2024 edition of LWF, especially given the industry is experiencing some of the toughest trading conditions in recent memory.

“Despite these challenging times, we have had overwhelmingly positive exhibitor feedback, thanks to delivering a truly excellent and innovative event, which has reinforced London Wine Fair as unmissable for the serious players. The energy at Olympia from those participating was palpable. Business was being done with everyone from the national multiples to Michelin star restaurants, regional wholesalers and independent retailers.

“Of course, we would like to see more of the leading UK agents back on the trading floor; this is something our industry leaders have vocalised too as essential in restoring the UK wine industry to robust health. We are already working hard to achieve this for 2025.”