Organisers of last week's AUSPACK PLUS show have expressed satisfaction with the final tally of visitor numbers which were 20 per cent higher than the last time the event was held Sydney.
The organisers of the packaging and processing machinery show revealed today that AUSPACK 2013 achieved 5922 visits over the four day event, versus the 5019 who visited in Sydney in 2009.
The numbers were, however, down on the previous show in Melbourne in 2011, when 6844 visitors attended.
Event manager Luke Kasprzak said it was a strong achievement "considering Victoria's larger base of packaging companies".
"Due to stronger manufacturing in Victoria, the Melbourne show is better attended. But we have to keep in mind that last time in Melbourne 2011 we had 266 exhibiting companies and this year in Sydney we had 308 so the NSW edition of AUSPACK is definitely growing," he said.
Last week's show attracted the second highest visitor numbers in Sydney. The 2001 event in NSW, which was held in Darling Harbour, closer to the CBD, achieved a figure of exactly 6000 visitors.
"But one of the reasons we moved from Darling Harbour to Olympic Park in Sydney was to get more dedicated and serious visitors, and our discussions with exhibitors seem to bear out that this is what we have indeed achieved."
Beyond the raw visitor numbers, however, all other figures from last week were the best in the event's history, Kasprzak said.
"In 2013 we had the biggest offering with 308 exhibiting companies including 112 international exhibitors (including co-exhibitors) from 18 countries," he said.
"Exhibitors also occupied the largest space in history of AUSPACK in Sydney with displays of almost 7300sqm.
"We put the success down to knowing the market, listening to what it wants and providing the right platform for business, education and networking," Kasprzak said.
Mark Dingley, chairman of the The Australian Packaging and Processing Machinery Association (APPMA), said the show had received the highest number of visitors in Sydney for over a decade.
"The most pleasing aspect of the show was the level of optimism by both exhibitors and visitors. In particular the positive feedback received from a majority of our exhibitors on the high level of enquiries and quality that they received at the show," he said.
Dingley said APPMA had already received a large number of expressions of interest to exhibit at AUSPACK PLUS 2015 in Melbourne in March.
