 |  |  |  |  |
 |  |  |  |  |
 |  |  |  |  |
 |
The citizens of Thessaloniki and other cities embraced this year’s event and celebrated once again this year the city’s historical institution.
TIF retained visitor levels at 250,000 people for the third year running, establishing its dynamism and winning over the hearts of the people even more. More specifically, 263,737 visitors attended the 84th TIF, enthusiastically participating in Thessaloniki’s grand celebration, which is becoming increasingly popular with all ages with every passing year. Families with children, young people, and older visitors flooded the Thessaloniki International Exhibition Centre on a daily basis, with a great variety of choice before them. The 84th TIF, with India as its Honoured Country, attracted more than 1600 exhibitors, in contrast to 1494 last year, and had 18 international participations. The next Honoured Country will be Germany, preparations for the participation of which are already under way, and it is expected to impress visitors of the 85th TIF.
The Indian pavilion, where this year’s Honoured Country, India, was presented, was a pole of attraction for thousands of visitors, providing a taste of this new economic superpower, which marries tradition with new technologies. The Fair got its Indian vibrancy from the daily dance events, which took visitors on a journey to the distant Asian land.
Peoples’ interest at this year’s TIF was attracted by the Digital Greece theme, an initiative of the Ministry of Digital Governance and TIF-Helexpo, in collaboration with Industry Disruptors-Game Changers. The Fair hosted a record-number 300 startups at Digital Greece, presenting a different Greece to the public.
Visitors of the 84th TIF also experience the “magic” of 5G technology with excitement. 5G is a new chapter in the history of the internet, drastically changing the way in which we communicate, work, and entertain ourselves. The 84th TIF was the first exhibition to present a pilot 5G network, with the help of WIND and Huawei.
The full extent of Greek entrepreneurship was successfully presented at pavilions 2 and 3 by the 43 Chambers that participated at the 84th TIF under the “umbrella” of the Union of Hellenic Chambers, while the separate participations of PCTh, TCCI, the Serres Chamber, and ACCI attracted visitor attention.
The pavilion of the Ministry of Defence was also very popular, which used VR simulators to transport people to the virtual operational daily life of the Armed Forces.
Circo Medrano circus made its unique mark on the 84th TIF, enchanting both young and old with its artists’ skills.
Art was also present at the 84th TIF, where CheapArt brought the public closer to important artists for the sixth year, and presented them with the opportunity of obtaining a piece of art of their own.
‘The Mindspark’ made a significant impression at this year’s Fair, where international speakers vividly presented new knowledge on our new times.
There were major visitor flows to all TIF thematic exhibitions, from automotion and energy, to education and gastronomy. Energia, Automotion – Electricity – Mobility, Akademia and Gastronomy (Gastronomy Corner, Greece on a dish) presented the most recent developments and trends in these various sectors. The Automotion – Electricity – Mobility thematic exhibition presented electric cars, motorcycles, and professional vehicles (with the participation of 5 electric vehicle companies).
Visitor recreation was taken care of once again this year by the Music Events, where famous Greek artists provided the soundtrack of the event. In fact, at the closing of the Fair, Paola and Yiorgos Papadopoulos carried the people away down pop and
folk paths, bidding farewell to the Fair in the best way possible, while one day earlier Makis Dimakis, Irene Papadopoulou, and Vassilis Dimas raised the temperature of the event to a fever pitch.
The public was informed this year for the first time at the TIF about the medical, pharmaceutical, and industrial uses of cannabis, at Salonica Cannabis Expo.
The response was great, for the second year running, to the SMOKE-FREE initiative, which sent out a message of respect for those around us.
Papastratos’ industries supported the Smoke Free TIF initiative, the Official Drink of the 84th TIF was Coca-Cola, the Official Airline was Qatar Airways, the Official Telecommunications Provider was WIND, the Official Bank was the National Bank of Greece, the Official Energy Provider was DEI (PPC), the Beer of the 84th TIF was ‘NYMFI THESSALONIKIS’, and the Medical Supporter of the 84th TIF was the Thessaloniki Interbalkan Medical Centre. The official hotels of the Music Events were Capsis and Capsis Bristol. The Catering Sponsor of the Music Events was the Samiotakis company, while the Pachoumis group and its subsidiary Limousines Greece were the VIP Transfers Sponsors.
The TIF was organised under the auspices of the Ministry of the Interior (Macedonia – Thrace).
The TIF has set the date for its next meeting with the public for 2020, when Germany will make its own mark at the 85th event.