Vicenzaoro Charm, the second of the shows Fiera di Vicenza dedicates to the gold, jewellery and precious goods sector concluded today (May 20).
At a moment of great difficulty for all the Italian jewellery districts, for the sector at world level, for the economy and for consumption in general, the Vicenza fair also recorded a drop in the number of operators present.
The downturn of about 20% on the 2008 edition nevertheless indicates that the Vicenza numbers are not as negative as might have been expected: according to the latest Assicor estimates, revenues in the domestic market were 39% down and the latest figure available for exports indicates a 24% slide in value terms and 17% in quantity.
In this scenario, 1300 exhibitors were present at Vicenzaoro Charm, representing companies from all the Italian districts: for the Veneto, Vicenza (253), Padua (15), Verona (7), Venice (5) and Treviso (5); for Tuscany, Arezzo (251), Florence (26), Lucca (2), Pisa (2) and Livorno (1); and for Piedmont, Valenza /Alessandria (149) and Turin (8).
The countries of origin of the foreign operators indicate that Fiera Vicenza's efforts are accurately tracking market opportunities and the presence of 338 foreign exhibitors should be noted.
Faced with a sector that is profoundly modifying its makeup, the morphology of the business is changing, new companies, new brands and operators are appearing on the scene, and the geography of the markets is mutating.
There is nothing for it but to take note of the situation responsibly and work to find shared solutions. It was with this spirit that the customary post-event meeting was held with the Exhibitors' Committee and Fiera di Vicenza management to draw up a balance for the show. In a climate of collaboration, all those present expressed their desire to identify an ideal path for arriving at the specialization of the shows, for activating new synergies between the Italian jewellery fairs to propose joint initiatives abroad, and for creating a planning platform for relaunching the sector with the involvement of fair operators, businesses, trade associations and the representatives of the distribution and sales channels on both the domestic and foreign markets. The recognition of the strategic role of Fiera Vicenza in this regard was unanimous.
It will be the individual exhibitors who will assess the effectiveness of their presence at the fair: despite the difficulties reported by many companies there were also positive signals from some others, signals which indicate that the path to follow to overcome the crisis is that of quality and creativity combined with proactive marketing policies, capable of intercepting new consumption trends and especially new markets.
Despite the particularly delicate economic situation, companies such as Autore, Roberto Coin, Zydo, Ziio, Lorenzo Ungari, Chiampesan, Palmiero, Mc Gemas, Mineral Gemme di Antonucci, Picchiotti and various others showed that they could manage the change in a constructive manner.
For its part, Fiera di Vicenza reconfirms its commitment to proposing itself as a special point of encounter between supply and demand with a global vision over all segments of the market and with an increasingly international outlook, ready to rapidly grasp the signals of novelty and capable of giving exhibitors and operators concrete answers in terms of services for their needs.

Info
Meneghini&Associati Press Office Fiera Vicenza Spa
Italian Press P +39 0444 578817 / M +39 347 1010498
Cinzia Di Rosa
dirosa@meneghinieassociati.it
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Press Release
20 May 2009/18.00 Vicenzaoro Charm/ Corporate