Feedback from leading amusement industry executives suggests that the Atrax expo in Turkey, which was held on December 6-9, will grow to become an important event on the trade show calendar.
Held in Istanbul, the inaugural Atrax event proved a worthwhile venture for the international companies that chose to exhibit there.
Speaking to InterGame, Sega Amusements’ Justin Burke said that the show was evenly divided between coin-op and attractions. His company is represented locally by Balo, which boasted the largest booth at the show.
“It was decent in size and was a good quality exhibition in terms of organisation and presentation,” he said. “In general, feedback has been very good. I’m sure in a few years' time it will be a big show. There were a lot of international visitors from the machine supplier business.”
These were sentiments echoed by Frank Ballouz of Benchmark, who said the show had been worth making the trip for.
“The Atrax was very well organised and had a nice venue with professional booths and pretty good attendance,” he said. “Basically, I feel the expense was well worth attending and I look forward to good business there in 2013.”
Alberto Borrero, international sales director at Intercard, commented that the show was “a great surprise” in terms of its high level of organisation, the quality of the show venue and the professional manner in which it was managed. “The main players from the Turkish market were there.
“The organisers need to put additional efforts into the event in the next few years if it is to become a recognised annual event. That means it needs to be promoted more at operator level and not just at the exhibitor level.”
Having said that, Borrero said that new contracts were signed off for his company at the show.
For Sacoa, Atrax was the final show of the year and it proved better than expected, Sebastian Mochkovsky said. Lots of new projects were discussed during the show hours, he said, noting that it wasn’t only local operators that attended, but international ones too.
Sacoa also works with Balo and Mochkovsky said his company will be supporting next year’s edition of the show.
