The 18th SAM, renamed appropriately enough the 'World Exhibition of Sustainable Development in the Mountains', has ended on a very positive note. The exhibition brought together 500 exhibitors and brands over a surface area of 30,000 m² (an increase of 10%). Attendance was also up, by 17%, with 14,100 trade visitors coming to Grenoble from 58 countries. In the context of company groupings and concentration, the exhibition's excellent results and growth are an indication that the mountain equipment industry is in very good health. Exhibitors praised the excellent quality of the exhibition and in particular of the visitors that came over the three days. A number of contracts were formalised, particularly with foreign investors. The SAM has once again confirmed its place as an unmissable worldwide event.

There are a number of reasons for its success:

• The 2007/2008 winter season is looking like a very good one;
• Developers, tourist attraction managers, ski lift operators and equipment manufacturers have adopted a sustainable development approach along with the constraints and obligations that it involves, but this also opens up opportunities in terms of economic activity and investment. In this context, the exhibition's exhaustive offering met people's expectations exactly. At the same time, the conferences and seminars on the topic were a tremendous success, confirming the importance of sustainable development issues; - Mountain resorts are working towards new models designed to enable them to develop and diversify their offering to win over a broader public, in particular in summer, thereby offering year-round employment. With this in mind, the emergence at the SAM of a structured mountain biking sector is meeting one of the identified requirements of the summer season;
• France's high-performance technology, experience and know-how are recognised theworld over. The big increase in visitors and delegations from abroad (15% of total visitors), coming mainly from Spain, Portugal, Italy, Switzerland and Eastern Europe, but also from South America, Australia, China and Russia, confirms the high international demand;
• Lastly, many manufacturers are pursuing a policy of diversification and conquering new markets other than winter sports. This applies for example to ropeway systems, a successful industry that is finding applications in the urban sector.

After the exhibition, a number of exhibitors (including Doppelmayr, Leitner, Poma, Prinoth, etc.) have already confirmed that they will be attending the next event, which will take place in two years' time: from 21 to 23 April 2010 in Grenoble – France.

www.sam-grenoble.com

SunKid, ChairkiD	Snowstar
LEITNER AG	Prinoth BISON X
Prinoth BISON	Teufelberger
POMA	Pistenbully
Pressekonferenz mit M Decolasse, jetzt Johnson Controls	Früher York Neige jetzt Johnson Controls
Formatic	SKIDATA
Techno Alpin	Konsul Roderich Urschler
Doppelmayr	CWA, Felix Rhyner(r.) mit Rudolf Koffou
	SMI
Brandauer	WIEGAND
LENKO	ARECO und SUFAG
SIGMA	Doppelmayr
SunKid, ChairkiD