VERONA, ITALY – Marmomacc, the largest exhibition in the world dedicated to natural stone business and culture, attracted 67,000 visitors, a 3% increase from last year’s event. International attendance increased 9%, a total of 57%, from 150 countries, five more than in 2014.

A total of 1,524 companies occupied the 77,000 square meters of space at the event, including 936 from 55 different countries – with debuts by Albania, Bosnia, Cameroon, Georgia, Herzegovina and Venezuela. “This result is doubly rewarding for us,” said Ettore Riello, president of VeronaFiere. “First and foremost, we have achieved all the goals we set ourselves for the 50th edition in terms of qualified attendance, trade delegations and professional operators, with across the board increases that helped create important and new business development opportunities and partnerships for our customers and for Veronafiere itself alike. Secondly, we demonstrated to the government the validity of our conviction of the exhibition tool and its high-profile events as a vital asset for business by SMEs, especially in terms of exports, thereby including Marmomacc - on the strength of major results achieved in the course of 50 editions and its high level of internationality - in the Special Made in Italy Promotion Plan through a structured project also involving the ICE-Italian Trade Agency and Confindustria Marmomacchine.”

“The show achieved extremely high levels of internationality on all fronts, with significant increases even by geographic areas where we have already been directly and continuously active for many years, through our companies, partnerships, initiatives and events,” said Giovanni Mantovani, CEO and director general of VeronaFiere. “At the same time, this edition enabled us to organize an agenda of meetings at the highest institutional and business levels, which will help us develop new partnerships on strategic markets for the core business of Veronafiere itself.”

The next Marmomacc show wll be held from September 28 to October 1, 2016.