YOUR FORUM FOR PLAY, SPORTS UND LEISURE AREAS
With over 75 per cent of IOG SALTEX 2010 re-booked for next year, there is no doubt that the rain showers and the London Underground strike on the opening day of this year’s show did little to dampen the spirits of the 400 or so exhibitors and the thousands of visitors or affect the continued success of the UK’s largest annual event for the open space management sector.
‘Quality rather than quantity’ was certainly the theme this year – and there was overwhelming agreement that the 9,000 plus visitors (unaudited footfall) included a high proportion of serious buyers, as Ruth McAdam from Multihog commented: “It was obvious we were dealing with very experienced visitors with real purchasing power.”
She continued: “Attendance on the first day was obviously affected by the weather and the tube strike, but the other days were excellent in terms of the quality of enquiries received. Our stand personnel were busy pretty much without a break on the Wednesday and Thursday and IOG SALTEX was a great success for us.”
That view was echoed by many across the showground, including Wicksteed Leisure, which “took hundreds of sales leads” and David Jenkins, Managing Director of DJ Turfcare. He said the company sold machines during the show and dealt with almost 100 enquiries. "IOG SALTEX was a very good show for us," he said. "We were delighted at the quality of our visitors.
"We look forward to Windsor every year and this year the show has been very successful for us, despite all the gloomy predictions."
Indeed, with all the uncertainty surrounding public spending cuts, it was clear that while local authorities were perhaps fearful of reductions in headcounts they were certainly at the show and continuing the trend to investigate and source equipment and techniques that would make them more effective and efficient in managing their open spaces.
