EICMA 2004: Positive Vibes & Major Change for 2005

MILAN, Italy (September 21) – Starting with the ‘bike-fest’ in the Corso Buenos Aires on the Friday, the 62nd EICMA was a real success. 665 exhibitors filled the old Fiera complex for the last time: in 2005 the show will be held in the all-new Exhibition Centre. But this year visitors were out in numbers: some 1700 professional visitors crossed the threshold of the show, a 17% increase over last years’ edition. 26% of these visitors were women – an unusual high number, boosted by the ‘free entry for ladies’ policy, no doubt. Several celebrities visited the show, like Julien Absalon, Olympic XC MTB champion, Paolo Pezzo, twice Olympic champion in the same discipline and Marco Materazzi of Inter Milan, to name but a few. The show sparked some nice initiatives around cycling: the Pedalata Azzurra bike-ride saw 1500 people completing a 78 kilometre route, and the traditional ‘Milanochepedala’ attracted thousands for a spin around Milan. But the EICMA will change its’ face for 2005. Bicycles and motorcycles will be shown on separate dates: pushbikes from September 16 till 19, 2005 – motorbikes from November 15 till 20, 2005. And of course the new location. 8 kilometres outside of Milan, in the direction of Malpensa airport, and with a total of 345.000 square metres of covered exhibition space for us to enjoy. (MH)