INFOREAL, February 2010: testimonials, results, perspectives

The INFOREAL Overseas Property Exhibition, which was held in St. Petersburg on February 27-28, has gathered about 6 thousand people. Participants have noted that the majority of visitors were interested in property in middle and high price brackets.

The organizers of the exhibition - Group of Companies “Bulletin of Real Estate” and Prian.ru portal - have conducted a survey among the visitors. Respondents were satisfied with the exhibition, the level of supplied information and the quality of services provided at companies’ stands. Most visitors have accomplished the objectives for which they came to the exhibition: chose a specific realtor company, received the necessary market information. The visitors’ main wish for the next event was to see more companies offering property in the near abroad: Eastern Europe, Scandinavia and the exotic countries (such as Thailand, New Zealand and India).

The representatives of big business and government have also expressed a high degree of interest in the INFOREAL exhibition. In particular, the Consul General of the Republic of Cyprus, Mr. Antonis Sammoutis, who showed up at the exhibition on an unofficial visit, has stressed the event’s significant importance for the development of international relations between Russia and Cyprus.

The INFOREAL participants have highly estimated the level of exhibitions’ preparation and carrying out, and have also highlighted its progress, stressing that, compared with last year, the level of the event has significantly increased. Almost all the exhibitors have expressed their willingness to participate in the next INFOREAL exhibition.

According to the organizers, such high appraisals are due to the two factors. First, the advertising campaign has been expanded and focused on the target audience: potential buyers of foreign property.

“While planning the INFOREAL advertising campaign, we considered the wishes of our exhibitors, - Mikhail Kelim, co-chairman of the INFOREAL organizing committee and the head of the Prian.ru portal, noted. - We were focused at customers with middle to high budget, at businessmen and property investors. This has resulted in the exhibition being attended by the truly interested people, not just occasional visitors”.

The second reason: the organizers traditionally follow the concept of integrated informational support for all market participants.

“The customers’ demand for information remains quite high: topical seminars were held a full audience - Alexei Konovalov editor-in- chief of the Prian.ru portal, said. - Topical seminars were held at full audience. The most popular seminars were: overviews of Bulgarian, Spanish and Finnish property markets, as well as a general seminar on current trends of global markets, which has been prepared by the Prian.ru portal. At the same time the attendants could freely submit their questions to experts of the Consultation Center on Overseas Property. Besides that, visitors have received a free edition of “Overseas Property Buying Guide”, a publication prepared by the Prian.ru portal. I am sure that it may well become a table-top book for any buyer, since it contains detailed instructions on how to buy property in different countries and reviews of the current situation on global markets”.

The next INFOREAL exhibition will be held on September 25-26, 2010 in St. Petersburg at the Ledoviy Dvorets (Ice Palace), and just as the one held this spring, the event will open the exhibition season in Saint-Petersburg.


TESTIMONIALS

Daniil Kravtsov, VFI Europe company: The INFOREAL has fully met our expectations and once again proved to be more than successful. The event was attended by serious buyers, ready to spend larger sums of money than we are used to.This means that the organizers have chosen the right advertising channel. The exhibition has a good reputation both among agencies and developers, as well as among the visitors. It would be great to attract more customers focused on investing in overseas property.

Zhanna Nihaenko, the “Jutta-Consulting” company: The exhibition was very fruitful for us, and we are pleased with the results. The event was organized on a professional level. Due to a successful advertising campaign our stand was addressed by a lot of customers. The event was visited by people with firmly shaped requests, who knew what they wanted. Most citizens of Saint-Petersburg were interested in buying property for personal use, we have however also noticed a rather large number of investment inquiries. We were pleased to work with the INFOREAL organizers and plan to continue this cooperation.

Olga Smuglina, BEST-Nedvozhimost company: This winter exhibition definitely has some spring feeling. The people have gone out of “winter hibernation” and are ready to buy overseas property: Bulgaria, Turkey, and the Czech Republic. Some have already selected a specific unit, many are still considering different options, as buying property abroad is an important decision, its settlement usually takes about six months. We have acquired customers who are ready to buy within two weeks. The INFOREAL has attracted target visitors and we are very pleased with it.

Olga Chernysheva, Runiga company: The exhibition has appealed a lot to us due to its high organizational level and cozy atmosphere. We had assumed to receive applications, but their numbers have greatly exceeded our expectations. We wish the organizers to remain at such a high level.

Oksana Kraeva, Satisfaction Properties company: people came to INFOREAL in order to buy housing, some have even already purchased a plane ticket and are ready to go on a property viewing tour. This year, people are very interested in Bulgaria and Turkey, the incredibly high demand for the latter has even surprised us.

Sergei Zelenyak, Pafilia company: We participate in many exhibitions thus we are capable of certain comparisons. INFOREAL, despite its young age, is well organized. We would like to pay certain tribute to the managers, who do a lot of work for both the participants and the visitors to feel comfortable.

Oleg Chernobylskiy, “Unix” overseas property agency: we were only confused by the weather outside. The INFOREAL itself has left a favorable impression, we are thankful to the organizers. We offer property both in traditional areas such as Bulgaria, and the exotic destinations: the island of Zanzibar, the island of Margarita, Peru... I am glad that the visitors were interested not only in Bulgaria, but also in these exotic countries. In addition, we were able to get acquainted with our colleagues, to communicate and share experience which is also very important.