LIWF organisers bullish despite show shrinking

Published: 30 March, 2012

London International Wine Fair organisers are confident this year's show will be a success despite the show shrinking by 7.5 to 10% after high-profile exhibitors pulled out.

Neither PLB, Pernod Ricard nor Percy Fox will have stands at this year's show, which takes place between May 22 to 24 at ExCeL.

However, event director James Murray of Brintex believes bursaries to attract independents, and hosting the UK Sommelier of the Year awards will bring in a better audience.

"There's been a lot of coverage of the fair recently - some good, some not so good. We want to show we've got some very compelling reasons for visitors to come."

He added that the reasons exhibitors had withdrawn were down to "how challenging the UK market is at the moment - we can't control consumption, taxation of currency exchange rates."

This year the show will take up 24,000m2, including 2,000m2 for its spirits show Distil, which Murray reckons will be about 7.5 to 10% down in total on last year. "The scale works to our advantage - its manageable. It's still large but offers diversity. It's not the 'ubershows' you see overseas," he said.

The fair will be evenly split between old and new world wines, and Murray emphasised that "pretty much every generic body, apart from New Zealand" will be there. Over 1,000 exhibitors have signed up, while 20,000 wines and spirits from 36 countries will be on site.

"We've been a real platform for emerging markets over the years," Murray said. This year Turkey and Lebanon will increase their stand space.

For 2012 organisers have focused heavily on the show's content. "At the end of the last show we realised it would be a challenging year for the market- and we needed to focus on independents and come up with a lot of new content."

The 2,500 responses gathered to its 2011 visitor survey showed 55% said their buying behaiour would change having attended; 38% said they found suppliers they would not otherwise have considered; 22% said they were considereing placing orders they otherwise would not have places while 5% placed orders they otherwise would not have at the show.

Brintex is confident it will maintain visitor numbers at around the same level as last year - around 14,000 - with 25% coming from overseas.

With Distil, Murray said: "We've always struggled to bring in the big brands." Instead it will turn the spotlight onto medium-sized brands and smaller new firms, and there will be pavilions from Hungary, while China has still to confirm.

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