Just one week left till the International Floriculture and Horticulture Trade Fair (IFTF) will open its doors in Vijfhuizen, the Netherlands. From November 7-9 nearly 300 companies will be present at the Expo Haarlemmermeer, where visitors from all over the world come to the IFTF to see the latest developments.
Dick van Raamsdonk at the IFTF 2017.
Increase in number of growers
Again, the show has grown in size and number of exhibitors. Compared to last year, the show area is 15 percent bigger in size and will host around 10 percent more exhibitors. Interestingly, this year not only more growers from new participating countries are exhibiting, but also more growers from existing exhibiting countries as well. "Newcomers this year are from, for example, Iran and Zimbabwe, which adds again more flavors to the diversity of products on display and will create new business opportunities for attending buyers", says Dick van Raamsdonk of HPP Exhibitions, organizer of the show.
More than an exhibition
Over the years, IFTF has developed into a floriculture platform; in other words, it has become more than an exhibition alone. The afternoon of Tuesday November 6, for example, in the auditorium of Expo Haarlemmermeer, the International Floriculture Forum “IFF” will be held. The Forum will host a range of high-level speakers who will be invited to share their views with the audience on major ongoing and upcoming changes in the fields of international trade, logistics and product innovation.
Besides that, over the years, the exhibition has become more interesting for florists as well. "Florists are becoming increasingly important in the sector. They are, so-called, the final link in the chain." The number of florists used to lag behind in the past, but since they started a special florist event four years ago, named IFTF World of Flowers, the number of florists increased. "Since the first edition in 2014 the number of visiting florists have increased to nearly 1,500 in 2017, coming from more than 50 countries." Everyday competitions are taking place with the Wim Hazelaar Trofee (Wednesday and Thursday) and the Student Challenge (Friday) being organized again. Furthermore a vast array of products is shown in the total area and on display in the Inspiration Zone. All in all, the World of Flowers, organized by Green Team Consultancy+ has become of great value to the IFTF.
And next to all the events that are taking place at the IFTF, several exhibitors, apart from exhibiting, are also opening the doors of their facilities. In total 14 locations can be visited, most of them based in the area near Vijfhuizen.
Largest floricultural event
The IFTF is held concurrently with the FloraHolland Trade Fair (FHTF). According to Van Raamsdonk, these shows complement each other. "The FHTF includes plants and also has a large number of Dutch growers, which both IFTF doesn’t have. Together, this results in the world’s largest floricultural event." In order to stimulate the visitors to visit both fairs, they connected the two with shuttle buses. Besides visiting the fairs, the location also offers great possibilities to visit other leading Dutch companies in the floriculture sector.
The IFTF takes place next week (November 7-9) at the Expo Haarlemmermeer in Vijfhuizen. For more information and to register, click here.
FloralDaily
FloralDaily and our colleagues from Dutch newsletter Bloemenplantennieuws will be present at the IFTF to make a photo report of the show. We'll also be present with our own FloralDaily stand. Feel free to drop by at stand C2.43 if you have any news to report, to pick up a copy of our Buyer's Guide, or just to have a chat.