Salone del Mobile Milano closed its 2026 edition with 316,342 visitors from 167 different countries, consolidating its position as a global benchmark for the sector. In a year marked by unstable markets and growing international complexity, the event has stood the test of the present with an offering combining industrial strength, design quality, cultural content, and new business opportunities. The percentage of international trade visitors, which stood at 68%, consistent with 2025, went beyond mere attendance figures: it confirmed the Salone as a concrete internationalisation, networking, and business development lever.
Over six days, companies, buyers, investors, retailers, contractors, designers, and the international media found the Salone to be a hub for high-value networking and content. With 1,900 brands from 32 countries, the image projected by the 2026 edition of the event was of a responsive and competitive industrial ecosystem. The International Bathroom Exhibition and EuroCucina, together with FTK, Technology For the Kitchen, confirmed the strategic importance of two key sectors in the evolution of contemporary living, encompassing industrial quality, technology, and new lifestyles.
The ranking of the top foreign countries by the number of attendances of operators underscored the evolving geographical distribution of demand. In absolute terms, China dominated once again. Europe’s resilience was confirmed, with a growing number of trade visitors from Germany, Spain, Austria, and Belgium. The attendance of operators from the United States performed very well, as did that from the United Kingdom. Outside the rankings, visitor numbers from both Canada and Mexico rose significantly, while there was a strengthening of dynamic regions with new potential, such as Mercosur (Brazil in fourth place), South Korea (in fifteenth place).
The 2026 edition reinforced its role as a catalyst for new opportunities, transforming content and visions into tools for interpreting markets and design. With Salone Raritas, 28 galleries from 12 countries, the Salone has launched a broader dialogue on the cultural value of design, placing uniqueness, research, and experimentation at the centre. The curatorial masterplan for Salone Contract 2027, designed by Rem Koolhaas and David Gianotten / OMA, has instead shifted the focus onto a segment that goes beyond the logic of the product to engage with complex systems and a global market worth 68 billion euros.
"With 316,342 presences from 167 countries, the 2026 edition has reaffirmed the strength of a system that, even in the most challenging of times, has chosen to move forward," said Maria Porro, president of the Salone del Mobile. "It was a success not just in terms of the trade fair itself, but for the entire sector: a result of teamwork, a shared vision, and dialogue between different worlds that find a concrete synthesis here. The Salone does not merely bring the world of design together: it sets it in motion. It transforms attendance into relationships, content into opportunities, and complexity into direction. The international dimension, the growth of foreign markets and the work carried out throughout the year confirm the Salone’s role as a strategic infrastructure for supporting the sector in its internationalisation processes.
