Canan Karaosmanoğlu Alıcı, one of the important names of İzmir in the field of fair organization and trade, is the General Manager of İzmir Fair and Exhibition Services Inc. (İZFAŞ). She successfully carries out her duty and makes significant contributions to the economic and cultural development of the city. In this interview with her about İZFAŞ’s vision, projects and current developments in the fair industry, we discussed the meaning of fairs for İzmir and their future goals.
What is the role of the fair industry in maintaining and improving Turkey’s position as a marble producer and exporter?
To see how the fair industry has improved its position as a natural stone producer and exporter, it is necessary to look at the point at which total natural stone exports reached when Marble İzmir was first built and in the intervening years. While our natural stone exports were 77 million dollars in the first year of Marble İzmir, Turkey’s natural stone exports reached 2 billion dollars over the years with the contribution of the fair. In the first two months of this year, Turkey’s natural stone exports reached 274 million dollars in the first two months of 2024, an increase of 5 percent compared to last year. Marble İzmir, which has been a member of the International Fairs Association (UFI) since 1998, has international participants from many countries, thousands of international professional visitors showed interest in the fair, and it is important for the sector that Turkish natural stone expands to the world, increases its market share and reaches new markets. I would like to remind you that last year, a record-breaking fair was held with 1,015 participants in an exhibition area of more than 150 thousand square meters, while a total of 79,153 people from 148 countries, 9,056 of whom were foreigners, visited the fair, and million-dollar agreements were signed.
As you know, Turkey has approximately 35% of the world’s natural stone reserves. Colorful and diverse natural stones extracted from quarries all over Turkey are exhibited to the world at the Marble İzmir International Natural Stone and Technologies Fair, hosted by İzmir Metropolitan Municipality and organized by İZFAŞ. Marble İzmir offers a unique opportunity to show the world the leadership of Turkey, which has been the most important reserve area of natural stones in the world for thousands of years, and to establish new collaborations. Turkey’s quality, expertise and experience in the marble and natural stone industry is a globally accepted fact. Our fair will once again provide the opportunity to announce this quality and expertise to a wider audience. Marble İzmir will continue to be the lifeblood of natural stone exports and the gateway of the sector to the world this year.
İZFAŞ is one of the largest fair organizations in Turkey. As İZFAŞ, what importance do you give to your fair activities in the natural stone sector?
With over 30 years of experience, İZFAŞ’s goal of becoming the modern face of Turkey continues in parallel with its mission of making İzmir a city of fairs. İZFAŞ, as one of Turkey’s leading organizations in the field of fairs, attaches great importance to fair activities in the natural stone sector, and this importance becomes quite evident with İZFAŞ’s deep-rooted history in our country’s fair adventure and its contributions to the sector. When we look at these contributions, we see that İZFAŞ not only maintains a historical legacy such as the İzmir International Fair, but also organizes fairs that have an important place in the sector such as Marble İzmir, IF Wedding Fashion İzmir, and contributes to both the development of the relevant sectors and the promotion of İzmir as an international fair city. We see that it provides considerable support.
İZFAŞ’s mission is to ensure that trade is more competitive, faster and safer by providing international fair services and to lead sustainable economic growth by combining high value-added production with exports. In this context, the importance İZFAŞ attaches to fair activities in the natural stone sector aims to strengthen the sector’s place in the international market, increase its exports and increase Turkey’s brand value in the natural stone field. The importance İZFAŞ attaches to fair activities in the natural stone sector not only contributes to the development of the sector, but also significantly supports Turkey’s economic growth.
In addition, we work in cooperation with associations in the sector, exporters’ unions, non-governmental organizations, sector representatives and our participants to further develop our fair every year. We regularly hold advisory committees with all our stakeholders and work to make our fair even better and to increase its contribution to the industry. With the understanding of a learning institution, we see each fair as a school and take steps within the framework of the feedback and demands we receive from more than a thousand companies participating in our fair. We strive to ensure that every square centimeter of the fair’s interior and exterior provides fair services at international standards in the light of suggestions from our industry. Marble İzmir Fair, which started in 1995 with 47 local participants and hosted 4 thousand 719 people, is growing day by day in Turkey’s largest and most modern fairground, Fuarİzmir, with an area of 330 thousand square meters, which was opened together with the Marble İzmir Fair in 2015. It has been the industry fair for 29 years, and the fair has been growing the industry. Our fair, where we act together with our sector with great devotion, will represent the power of our country in the world natural stone trade in 2024, as every year.
What are İZFAŞ’s strategies to promote Turkish marble more effectively in the international market? Can you give information about the projects carried out on this subject?
To further develop Marble İzmir, we cooperate uninterruptedly throughout the year with commercial attachés in our target markets: the USA, the Middle East, Asia and Europe. Our promotional activities, both domestically and around the world, continue uninterruptedly in every media throughout the year. As a result of these efforts, visitors and participants from different continents of the world will be in İzmir in April. We also organize purchasing delegation programs in cooperation with exporters’ associations and chambers of commerce and industry from different regions of our country. We will have three different buyer delegation programs carried out jointly with the Aegean Mineral Exporters Association, İstanbul Mineral and Metals Exporters Association and Western Mediterranean Exporters Association, with the export-oriented support of the Ministry of Commerce. B2B meeting programs to be organized during the fair will enable participating companies to meet with customers quickly and effectively. Application registrations for recruitment committee programs were received from dozens of countries in every continent of the world through our website. The review and evaluation process of applications continues. Just like last year, there is great interest in our fair from foreign visitors this year too. In addition to international delegations, we also carry out important visitor activities for construction companies, architecture offices and all segments of the industry in the country. We expect nearly 100 thousand local and foreign industry professionals to visit our fair.
We bring together young designers with the innovative companies of the sector with the International Different Natural Stone Design Competition, which is held for the sixth time this year at our fair. We will present the original designs that will be realized as a result of the competition to the visitors at our fair. With this competition, we aim to increase natural stone exports by making them with high added value products supported by design and architecture, and to reveal the innovative face of Turkish natural stone in the market. In recent years, we have organized many programs and events with the participation of world-famous names in the sector, such as Daniel Wood from the US Natural Stone Institute, and engineers and architects from different countries. This enabled Turkish natural stone to become more well-known in the international arena during the year and to be preferred in projects all over the world. We will have similar programs within the scope of the fair this year too.
What are your views on the development of the natural stone fair industry in the world?Natural stone fair organization in the world is going through a significant transformation and progress process with the development in the sector. The industry is adapting to change to keep up with trends, explore innovative uses of natural stone and reach a wider customer base. Today, natural stone has become not only a building material but also an element at the center of design. This transformation also allows focusing on the aesthetic and functional value of natural stone. Specialized fairs that have an important role worldwide, such as the Marble İzmir Fair, play an important role in exhibiting this change in the sector and both the existing and new functions and design potential of natural stone. In addition to traditional fair organizing, fairs where design is at the forefront are also of great importance in terms of bringing together designers, manufacturers and industry professionals to discover and shape the future usage areas of natural stone. This helps encourage innovative thinking in the industry and position natural stone as a competitive design material.
Natural stone fairs have become an important platform to share the latest developments and technologies in the sector. Not only natural stone, but also the machines and the latest technological developments in this field are now an integral part of fairs. Along with the latest developments, international congresses, events and workshops organized within the scope of fairs also increase expertise and innovations in the sector by offering training and information exchange opportunities to sector professionals. Another point that should be taken into consideration is that artificial products should not be included in natural stone fairs as if they were alternatives.
Natural stone fairs should also aim to raise awareness about the sustainable use and processing of natural stone and to encourage good practices in the industry. In addition to making significant contributions to the development of the sector, fairs such as Marble İzmir help to shape not only the past use of the sector but also its future potential by keeping up with the changes in natural stone fair trade. Based on all these developments, I can say that natural stone fair trade will grow and develop further in the future. This will also be an important element that will ensure the continuous renewal and progress of the sector.
How do you see the future of the natural stone industry in Turkey?
As I mentioned before, Turkey, due to its nature, has been the most important reserve area of marble and natural stones in the world for thousands of years. We must produce knowing that this reserve is not inexhaustible. At this point, we have to invest in value-added production and increase the sector’s income per unit export, like all contemporary countries. We see that there have been positive developments in this sense in recent years and our value-added product exports have increased. We believe that the sector and export figures will grow with the right strategy and keeping up with the developing world. The Marble İzmir Fair will continue to strengthen our industry, increase market share and exports, and lead our country in the future, as it has for years.
As İZFAŞ, which projects do you plan to implement in the coming period to contribute to the development of the natural stone industry in Turkey?
As I stated in my answers to your previous questions, we continue our work to contribute to the development of the natural stone industry in Turkey, the sector, its sub-sectors, exports, employment and the city’s economy in many areas from tourism to accommodation, from transportation to the food and beverage industry. We continue to carry out many things to contribute to the sector with our fair, from purchasing delegations to our B2B programs, from our promotional activities around the world to the International Different Natural Stone Design Competition that we have been running for six years to add value to natural stone. This year, with the decision we made together with our participating companies and sector representatives, artificial products will not be included in our fair, only natural stones and their products will be included. We continue to work on organizing national participation for our companies in a fair abroad in the coming period.
What would you like to say to the industry?
Our fair allocations are about to be completed, we would like to thank the entire sector and our participating companies. As İZFAŞ, we continue to act in the light of the feedback, demands and suggestions we receive from the companies participating in our fair. In the coming period, as before, we are in constant business cooperation with all components of the sector such as All Marble Natural Stone and Machinery Manufacturers Association (TÜMMER), Aegean Mineral Exporters Association, İstanbul Mineral and Metals Exporters Association, Western Mediterranean Exporters Association. İzmir Chamber of Commerce (IZTO), Aegean Region Chamber of Industry (EBSO), İzmir Commodity Exchange (ITB), İzmir Chamber of Tradesmen and Craftsmen Union (IESOB) are, as always, our biggest supporters in Marble İzmir. We work together to ensure that our fair provides fair services at international standards and creates more added value for the industry.
We are very excited to be opening Marble İzmir for the 29th time between 17 – 20 April 2024. This year, our fair, which we expect to create a larger trade volume than previous years, will once again play a leading role in investing in value-added production and increasing the sector’s income per unit export. Marble İzmir, which introduces our country’s natural stone riches to Turkey and all over the world, will continue to be the lifeblood of natural stone exports in 2024. We will continue our work by collaborating in harmony with all representatives of the sector to move our fair and the industry to better levels in the international arena, to further increase the power of our exporters, and to raise the Marble İzmir brand.
+90 532 585 51 95
+90 532 585 51 95