The Izmir Marble Fair -- held from April 3 through 6 in Turkey -- was a success, according to show coordinators. There was an increase in the number of both domestic and foreign exhibitors, which received positive reactions from national and international sector representatives. The fair was also quite successful in terms of the number of visitors and business connections.

A total of 653 companies participated at the Izmir Marble Fair; 445 were domestic and 208 were foreign companies from 30 countries. There was an increase of 34% in the number of exhibitors, over an area of 19,386 square meters. Despite the hard times both in Turkey and in the world, 10,143 domestic visitors from 59 cities of Turkey and 344 foreign visitors from 47 countries were in attendance. Foreign magazine representatives from Poland, Italy, Russia, Portugal and Greece also participated in the Izmir Marble Fair.

Trade visitors were from Australia, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Denmark, Ethiopia, England, Egypt, France, Germany, Georgia, Greece, Ireland, Indonesia, Iran, Israel, India, Italy, Jordan, Japan, Korea, Lebanon, Libya, Malta, the Netherlands, P.R. China, Pakistan, Poland, Portugal, Philippines, Romania, Russian Federation, Republic of Tatarstan, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, San Marino, Singapore, Sudan, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, TRNC, Ukraine and the U.S.

The general manager of Izmir Marble Fair, Dilara S?rg? Ers?zl?, dubbed it "four golden days of success" for Izmir Marble 2003 during her analysis on the fair. Ers?zl? also added that both exhibitors and visitors had expressed their satisfaction.

"For us the evaluations of the national and international sector representatives on the success of the fair are of vital importance. We can simply guess and foresee from these evaluations that the fair will get bigger in 2004. We received the demands of many companies, which were visitors this year, on their wish to participate in the fair next year.

"In addition, most of the exhibitor companies expressed that they would be asking for bigger areas to exhibit. Besides this, there are also demands of the participation and bigger areas for the next year from foreign visitors and exhibitors.

"As well as all these positive signs, the opinions of the foreign sectoral press representatives are also quite important for us. Since they follow all international fairs and in their comparisons, they stress that Izmir Marble Fair is undoubtedly ranked among the first three in the world now, and it will go on growing rapidly.

Moreover, the vivacity in the city during the fair was also quite pleasing, because all hotels and restaurants were full. Our wish is that all fairs we organise bring that vivacity with them. In this sense after such a successful fair organization, we are continuing the preparations of the other fairs so that they also become as successful as these four golden days of success. We thank once more all establishments and individuals for their contributions."