This year’s EICMA marked a clear turning point in the fortunes and trends in the Italian market, and for EICMA, in what, hopefully, it is a foundation for continued expo and Italian market growth for years to come …
The attendance statistics issued by EICMA are notoriously “loose”, shall we say; indeed, it has been a characteristic of all Italian show organisers for decades.
The trade association does not always issue attendance figures (which is usually a sign that visitor or exhibitor numbers, or both, were down) and when it does, the use of statistics is so selective and so inconsistent that it makes year-to-year comparisons difficult.
+24% increase in attendance
In the specific case of EICMA there were next to no statistics issued for 2016, and no more than three or four expo news releases have been made at all in the 12-month cycle since – those that have been made have been ‘random’ in the content at best!
However, after three days at EICMA, this year three facts were obvious.
First, for the first time in a decade the show had a really positive vibe, reflecting the fact that the domestic Italian market and the vendors who sell there had definitely got smiles on their faces at long last. Ironically in a year that has been a tad ‘tricky’ elsewhere in Europe, but regardless, the parts, accessory and apparel sectors appear to be in good shape even if there is still oversupply - but when haven’t there been more vendors than any national market or specialty discipline could realistically support?
Second, either there is someone new planning the use of space, or exhibitor numbers were genuinely up this year. The show occupied most of seven halls, with much less vacant space than has been the case for the past six or seven years.
Third, and I guess it is largely because the organisers continue to be hopeless at, and have no interest or incentive in “policing” the theoretically targeted specialist admittance that is supposed to characterise the Tuesday and Wednesday, the attendance during the first three days was certainly up. Reports suggest that the show was full on Friday, Saturday and Sunday too.
+28% international attendance
It therefore came as no surprise that a full attendance news release was made within 48 hours of the show closing its doors and one that, for once, backed up the hyperbole with some (still carefully managed) attendance statistics – so in recognition of a successful week for the motorcycle industry in Italy, here are the primary take-aways from their release.
This was the 75th EICMA, staged in its 103rd year, and the organisers claim it ‘registered’ “absolute records” and that it “confirms exponential growth with all the indicators positive. A great success with the public, recording a 24% increase in attendance”.
The release does not associate an attendance number with that percentage, either overall or otherwise. Therefore they are able to avoid breaking cover about last year’s number (which patently was way down on 2015) or the downward trend (despite the Italian trade association’s assurances to the contrary) that has been underway for anything up to a decade.
Indeed, the often quoted 500,000 plus numbers have long been unreliable - with total attendance likely to be in the region of 300,000 to 350,000, and attendance by people of riding age more probably in the region of 250,000 to 300,000 – which is still a mighty number, no question, but if wrong, then I invite ANCMA/EICMA to follow the example set by INTERMOT, AIMExpo and other national and international motorcycle industry shows around the world to declare and prove their numbers.
The release goes on to declare that 2017 has seen record numbers of visitors, though appear to be saying that the +24 percent is a comparison with 2015 and is therefore a two-show cycle trend.
Which, if true, is great, but why the continuing obfuscation ANCMA? Apparently, there were “over 150 innovations and world premieres presented at EICMA this year”, which doesn’t need to be accurate for anyone doing its job there to be able to confirm that yes, there were a lot of new model launches and a noticeable uptick in new parts, accessory and apparel introductions.
+20% exhibitor numbers
In terms of the increased exhibitor numbers, the statistics continue to be woefully distorted by way exhibiting own and third party brands are catalogued, with EICMA claiming that there were 1,713 “exhibitors present” when both direct and indirect “exhibitors” are (pointlessly) counted. However, EICMA has always been consistent in this idiosyncrasy, so even if the claimed +20% in exhibitor numbers (from 43 countries) over the recorded 2015 number (there they go again) is misleading, there’s no question that there were more than in 2016, a year that appeared to mark a nadir for the show (hence it being airbrushed from their statistical history).
EICMA says that “no less than 61% of the exhibiting companies came from abroad” (really?) and that the “net occupied area” increased by +15% (over 2015 presumably). Personally, I find it hard to believe that the actual number of individual vendor (aftermarket and OE) exhibit decisions can have been much more than a more realistic 700 to 800 (net of own and third-party brands), and if more than half of those exhibit decisions were made by non-Italian companies, then the figure is distorted by the numerically high number of small booths bought by Asian businesses.
+15% exhibit area
They go on to say that “participation by trade professionals recorded an important double-digit increase of foreign professionals” at +28% - well, if that is true, and it might be, then that has to reflect as much on the decline in international industry attendance witnessed throughout the past ten years, and on the conspicuously increased number of Asian component maker booths as on anything else.
“These extraordinary results confirm that the strategy outlined by the President of EICMA, by the executives and by all the members and manufacturers of the sector, is successful: based on innovative communication activity which focuses on internationalisation. A journey that began 103 years ago, and which today has made the show a privileged point of reference in the world of two wheels and a model of success to export.”
61% of exhibitors were ‘international’
Okay, so now I get it – failure to issue regular news releases and communiques and undertake any advertising (trade or consumer) outside Italy (as far as I could determine) is an innovation. Right, okay, glad we got that cleared up!
“The International Bicycle and Motorcycle Show is confirmed as the most important event in the world for the whole industrial chain of two wheels. An appointment that cannot be missed, a new model characterised, today, by a strong international connotation,” said Antonello Montante, President of EICMA S.p.A.
“The records of this 75th edition make it the best in recent decades from all points of view: the number of exhibitors, the surface area occupied, the attendance by professionals and the public. The show confirms Milan as the world capital of the two wheels. A model that is synonymous with excellence, Italian know-how, and which today is a reality and a great asset for the whole country.”
Well, with apologies to Antonello Montante, and to Gianluca Mammoliti, the press officer who can only play the cards he’s dealt, for my sceptical and less than reverential tone - it is nothing personal, I assure you - regardless of the hyperbole and largely meaningless statistics (you wait years for some and then wonder why!), I will, however, wholeheartedly concur that is was an excellent expo and however the numbers are arrived at, for sure shows the Italian market to be moving in the right direction.
