UFI - The Global Association of the Exhibition Industry
UFI was founded on 15 April, 1925, in Milan, Italy, by 20 leading European international trade fairs: Bordeaux, Brussels, Budapest, Cologne, Danzig, Frankfurt/Main, Leipzig, Ljubljana, Lvov, Lyon, Milan, Nizhny Novgorod, Padua, Paris, Prague, Reichenberg, Utrecht, Valencia, Vienna and Zagreb.
The current UFI President is Mr. John Shaw. Mr. Vincent Gérard is the UFI Managing Director.
At present, UFI represents 534 members in 204 cities in 84 countries on the 6 continents.
Annually, UFI members organize more than 4,000 trade fairs and exhibitions and rent over 50 million square metres of exhibition space. More than 1 million exhibitors participate in these events each year and the attending visitors exceed 150 million.
UFI has set up four Regional Chapters: Africa / Middle East (33 members); America (36 members); Asia / Pacific (152 members) and Europe (273 members). The main objectives of the Regional Chapters are to assist the members within the respective region, to discuss specific problems and to promote UFI.
In order to allow UFI members to exchange information, experience and know-how, UFI has established several thematic committees. Each committee is headed by a Chairman, and is composed of a limited number of UFI members. The thematic committees are: Marketing Committee, Exhibition Centres Committee, Information & Communication Technologies Committee, Statistics and Transparency of Trade Fairs/Exhibitions Committee, Committee of the Associations.
International Fair Plovdiv was admitted as a full member of UFI on 10 December, 1936, at the 12th UFI Congress in Paris. Nowadays, International Fair Plovdiv organizes seven UFI-approved events: International Technical Fair – UFI-approved event since 1936; International Consumer Goods and Technologies Fair – UFI-approved event since 1985; AGRA International Agricultural Exhibition – UFI-approved event since 1995; VINARIA International Exhibition of Wine-Growing and Wine-Producing – UFI-approved event since 1997; MEDICUS, DENTO, GALENIA International Exhibition of Medicine, Dentistry, Pharmaceuticals and Balneology – UFI-approved event since 2000; PRINTCOM International Exhibition of Printing Communications – UFI-approved event since 2001; FOODTECH International Exhibition - UFI-approved event since 2003.
The Central European Fair Alliance (CEFA) was set up in 1995 by an agreement for cooperation signed by 10 founder-members: Bratislava, Brno, Budapest, Graz, Klagenfurt, Ljubljana, Munich, Prague, Vienna, Zagreb. In 2000 and 2001, Belgrade, Bolzano, Novi Sad and Sarajevo were also admitted to membership, Skopje became a member in 2002.
International Fair Plovdiv joined CEFA in 2003.
A present, 16 trade fair organizers and UFI-members, are also members of CEFA. They have created a network for exchange of information, experience and know-how and with the aim to coordinate the strategies and to promote the regional and national trade fair venues. CEFA provides new opportunities for joint marketing and PR activities, for continuous know-how transfer and training, including exchange of staff members.
CEFA was officially recognized by UFI at the annual General Assembly of the European Chapter during the 69th UFI Congress in Munich.
EASE
The Exhibition Association of Southeast Europe (EASE) was founded in 2003. The headquarters of EASE are based in Novi Sad, Serbia. The founders of EASE are the trade fair centres of Novi Sad, Banja Luka, Bijeljina, Jadran, Leskovac, Mostar, Plovdiv, Skopje, Split, Subotica, Timisoara, Tirana, Zenica and Sarajevo.
International Fair – Plovdiv has been a member of EASE since 2003.
The key priorities of the Association are:
- to strengthen the relations among the exhibition centers in the region
- to establish regional integration and cooperation
- to tap successfully regional and international markets
- to exchange information on exhibition centers, and to attract visitors to the events organized by the members.
The President of EASE is Mr. Rajko Bujković.
The International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) was founded in 1963. The ICCA Head Office is in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
ICCA has over 800 members (including organizations and companies) from 80 countries and a global network of professionals active in the international meetings industry. ICCA provides its members with the unique opportunity to gain access to comprehensive information on international meetings, business initiatives and communication with potential clients.
The ICCA network enhances the cooperation between the members. Chapters, National and Local ICCA Committees have been formed to enable ICCA members in the same geographic region to work together. ICCA has offices in the Netherlands, Malaysia, U.S.A. and Uruguay.
Members of ICCA are congress travel & destination management companies, airlines; professional congress, convention and/or exhibition organisers; tourist and convention bureaux; meeting information & technical specialists; meetings hotels; convention & exhibition centres; honorary members.
International Fair Plovdiv is a member of ICCA since 2003.
At the General Assembly held on 28 August 2008, International Fair Plovdiv was admitted as member of the European Federation of Agricultural Exhibition and Show Organizers EURASCO. The membership in the reputed organization is well-deserved owing to the expansion of the International Agricultural Exhibition AGRA recognized as the most prestigious forum of modern agribusiness in Southeast Europe.
EURASCO was founded in 1972 and its member list comprises 33 organizers of agricultural and food industry exhibitions from 25 countries, such as Denmark, Netherlands, Germany, Sweden, Belgium, Bulgaria, Spain, France, Austria, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Italy, Poland, Hungary, Latvia, Greece, Ireland, Portugal, etc.
The current EURASCO president is Mr. Jan Pedersen, Agromek, Denmark. Mr. Giovanni Colombo, Veronafiere, Italy is the EURASCO Secretary General.
In August 2008 International Fair Plovdiv was admitted as a member of EURASCO
Bulgarian Convention and Visitors Bureau (BCVB) was set up in 2004 with head office in Sofia. Its key objective is to promote Bulgaria internationally as an attractive meetings and convention destination.
BCVB members include leading hotels, conference and exhibition venues, PCOs, airlines, transportation companies, restaurants, and service companies directly or indirectly involved in the conference and incentive tourism business.
The members of BCVB are engaged in the tourism industry and are organizers of convention events: Hilton Sofia, Sheraton Sofia Hotel Balkan, Radisson SAS Hotels & Resorts, Kempinski Hotel Zografski, National Palace of Culture, International Fair Plovdiv, M3 Communication Group, Bulgarian Association of Travel Agents, “Bulgaria Air” National Airline, Kongresstechnik Bulgaria, Bulgarreklama, TZUM AD, Sofia Land, etc.
CENTREX was found in 1997 at the initiative of the market leader exhibition organizers in Central Eastern Europe. From 1999 the Union is a member of UFI (the Global Association of the Exhibition Industry). CENTREX efforts are aimed at transparent, measurable, internationally acceptable, comparable, audited exhibition statistics, to promote these data and collaboration internationally, and to publish their data open wide in their annual publication and at their website.
In 2009 CENTREX Union has 20 members in 7 countries of the region – Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Rumania, Slovak republic and Ukraine. The current CENTREX chairman is Mr. Boguslav Zalewski and the executive director – Mr. Karoly Nagy.
International Fair Plovdiv is a CENTREX member since May 2009.