On 29 November 2007, after four busy days, the latest edition of the TABEXPO Events – TABEXPO Paris 2007 – closed its doors. As already in Barcelona 2003 nearly 8.000 visitors from all over the world came to Paris in order to experience the energy and excitement of a TABEXPO event. Already in the registration area echos of “Ciao”, “Wie geht’s? or “how good to see you again” could be heard. Descending to the exhibition area visitors were overwhelmed from high-class presentations of nearly 400 exhibitors from 64 countries on more than 30.000 square meters. Just like visitors have been impressed by the presentations of the attending companies, exhibitors have expressed their satisfaction with the quality of visitors and the number of extensive and intensive talks.

Exhibitors and visitors both agreed on the fact that TABEXPO 2007 Paris was a worthy successor to former TABEXPO shows in Barcelona (2003), Geneva (1998) and Vienna (1994).

The extraordinary social events accompanying TABEXPO Paris 2007 were sold out. On the opening day of the fair people met at Paris’ oldest ballroom – at the InterContinental Le Grand Hotel. On Wednesday, 28 November 2007, our guests enjoyed the cabaret show at the worldfamous cabaret Paradis Latin.

On Tuesday, 27 November 2007, another highlight of TABEXPO Paris 2007 took place: China Day! Attendees of the event enjoyed typical Chinese dances and music and were afterwards introduced to the different companies of the CNTC – China National Tobacco Corporation – and their fields of activity. 

From 27-29 November 2007, concurrent to the Exhibition, the TABEXPO Congress took place. Much time and thought went into the preparation of this Congress and into the presentations by notable industry figures. 25 prominent speakers formed the most outstanding speaker cadre for any tobacco event. Many of them have been recruited from the major product manufacturers and research facilities in the industry, including Altadis, Arista Laboratories, BAT, Filtrona, Imperial Tobacco Group, Philip Morris International, R.J. Reynolds, and Universal Leaf Tobacco. The focus was on a topic of critical importance to all attendees: “Trends and Directions for the Global Tobacco Industry to 2012 and beyond”.

More than 260 delegates from 33 countries used this unique opportunity to listen to and learn from some of the most respected and knowledgeable members of the tobacco industry, and with many presentations followed by question and answer sessions, the 2007 Congress format allowed participants to pose their own queries to these experts for one-on-one discussion.

Topics of discussion, among them “Independent stock analysts’ views on industry directions”, “Reduced harm initiatives and overview”, “The even more important role for packaging in the future” as well as “Leaf sourcing trends” made TABEXPO 2007 Congress to the most important information exchange available to the international tobacco industry.