Vinexpo: five days ‘too much’ says organiser

Vinexpo doesn’t need to run for the full five days because no visitor stays more than three, according to the CEO of the biennial Bordeaux wine and spirits fair, Guillaume Deglise.

This year’s Vinexpo in Bordeaux contained a much better and more varied food offering

Despite containing as many as 2,350 exhibitors, Deglise told db yesterday that “no-one stays for the full five days”, and “we have realised that people stay three days maximum”.

He also said that a fair lasting five days was too much for the exhibitors. “Visitors reduce their number of days because there is a cost to staying longer, and it is an investment for exhibitors too, who have told us that the fifth day is not relevant to them.”

The fair, which closed its doors last week, ran over five days from Sunday to Thursday, although it was announced on the final day of the fair that 2017’s Vinexpo would take place over four days from Monday to Thursday.

“People want to meet all their suppliers in fewer days than before, and so we will be reducing the show from five days to four, that is for sure,” said Deglise.

However, he admitted that since Vinexpo announced its decision to shave off the Sunday, he has received “many comments saying that this might not be a good idea”.

Consequently, starting later this week, Vinexpo will be surveying its exhibitors and visitors to see whether the fair should run from Sunday to Wednesday or Thursday to Monday.

As for further changes to 2017’s event, Deglise said that there would be “more new initiatives that will be announced in time”, but confirmed that Hall 2 would be demolished and replaced in time for the next edition.

“Hall 2 will be destroyed shortly, but I still don’t know what they will offer in place of that, but we do need the space: Hall 1 and 3 were packed, so we need space for tasting events, and if we want to grow,” he explained.

Speaking about last week’s exhibition, he told db, “Vinexpo this year showed to everyone that there is a new breath to the show and we’ve taken into account a lot of the criticisms, but it’s just a start, this is the first step.”

Among the many changes was a much better and more varied food offering and better transport between the show and central Bordeaux thanks to the installation of a new tram service.