Dear exhibitors,
we had been afraid in year 2009 that the worldwide crisis would affect the fair, but the number of exhibitors and visitors was roughly the same like before. It shows that more and more companies realize the importance of marketing that is a fi rst step to good business. It means among others not to get lost among other competitors, to be seen, to have opportunity to meet professionals from business and gastronomy, to offer them your products, to get to know the possibilities of competitors, to show off your products. This is important now, when the consumption of wine is increasing in Czech Republic and many new companies are trying to penetrate to our market. The only barriers against competition are good image and reputation, good quality and matching /corresponding/ prices. The already 13th international fair Wine & Spirits enables the comparison and direct contact with the consumer together with the tasting of wine (in comparison to on-line shops), like no
other event. It is due the fact that more than 80% of wine business is carried out in Prague and that the fair is the biggest event of this art in post communist countries of EU. It is obvious that some countries are aware of this fact and support their fi rms to take part in the fair considerably through their regional wine associations. It may be the organization of „Day of wines of relevant country“, or fi nancial support for exhibitors. These events are very successful as for promotion as for business. For instance, a large group of winters from Italy took part in the fair 2009 and they already reserved Day of wines from Friuli for the year 2010.
We are preparing two projects for the year 2010 and we hope that they will be useful.
1. We will reserve a certain hours of the fair only for professionals, as it is common in western countries. It will enable good working possibilities for exhibitors and businessmen.
2. We will attract the interest of professionals and public for the fair during the year by organizing the Concerts of wines and food delicacies (for instance Consonance of sparkling wines and smoked salmon, Harmony of wines and ham, Symphony of wine and cheeses). Celebrities from TV and professional journalists make evaluation of fi rst-quality wines and quality food. In this way, we try to increase the culture of wine drinking in our country to meet the wishes of professionals from gastronomy. These Concerts help to promote the wines of exhibitors who take part in it.
In conclusion, we would like to inform our exhibitors that we are keeping the prices of exhibition space for more than 10 years on the same level. (We cannot keep the prices of other services that we do not provide directly). The whole price amount for exhibition is therefore very reasonable in Europe. We would like that even a small winemaker or wine importer could show his production at the fair.
Yours sincerely,
František Veselý
Director of the fair