EICMA's plans for the new year include 3 rendezvous of great significance
<img width="147" height="210" class="floatleft" src="motorcycle.in.th/images/articles/EICMA_plans_for_the_new_year_include_3_1.JPG" alt="" />The first is BikeAsia, to open in Singapore on 27 February. EICMA launched this event a year ago with the aim to fill a gap in a Region that was characterised by a fast growing market and yet hosted no dedicated trade fairs for 2-wheel vehicles. The global crisis arrived precisely at the time when EICMA's initiative was at the start-up stage and tarnished its momentum.EICMA therefore decided to reposition the show according to a new strategic perspective and make it first of all into a stage for the promotion of products made in Italy.
40 of the most prestigious brands of the Italian 2-wheel industry will display their products of excellence in a huge "Italia" Pavilion,
In a year that is expected to be difficult, with mature markets in a recessionary phase, BikeAsia is an attempt to find new outlets, opening up a window onto a market that is potentially very profitable, where 580 million inhabitants of Southern Asia are profiting from growing income levels and are discovering the fascination of high end brand products.
BikeAsia is supported by the Ministry for Economic Development and ICE, which will help attract trade operators and journalists to Singapore.
Back in Milan from its expedition to the Orient, EICMA will get ready for a new challenge: reinvigorating the International Bicycle Show, which is scheduled to take place from 18 to 21 September. After having the Bicycle Show coincide with the Motorcycle Show for two years in a row, it was recognised that while appreciated by a number of major Exhibitors this arrangement was not deemed appropriate by many Exhibitors who were not willing to do without a trade-oriented show, i.e., a trade fair organised between July and September.
Hence an innovative, flexible arrangement: a Bicycle Show in September (a streamlined, short-lasting event, entailing definitely lower costs) and a Bicycle and Motorcycle Show in November, in order not to deprive of a welcome opportunity those bicycle manufacturers who had relished the sea of people attracted by the simultaneous scheduling of the two shows. In this manner, EICMA offers everybody a choice: to participate in a bicycle-only event, mostly geared to the trade operators (September) or a great Fair-Event, the Bicycle and Motorcycle Show (in November), or even to participate in both, at none-too-high, sustainable costs.
EICMA's program for 2009 will culminate with the 67th International Bicycle and Motorcycle Show, which, from 10 to 15 November will offer trade operators and motorbike enthusiasts the greatest and most prestigious Motorcycle Show in the world, enriched by "Motolive": 85,000 m2 of outdoor space dedicated to shows, races, tests, driving lessons. EICMA will be the only international motorbike show in 2009, because the corresponding German event has retained its biennial timing.
9 months before the show opens its doors, EICMA continues to receive a regular flow of applications and 75% of the exhibition area available has already been sold.
Once again, the motorcycle industry will be present in its entirety and the Milan stage will display for half a million visitors the motorcycles, the scooters, the components, the clothes and the accessories that we shall see on the roads of the world in the course of 2010.
An extraordinary rendezvous, that, for almost a century - the first edition dates back to 1914 -, has been a pivotal event for Milan, for Italy and the 2-wheel vehicle industry.
