Expo centres ramp up to meet demand (hktdc.com)


	In December, ITU Telecom World 2006 drew around 62,000 participants from 141 countries to AsiaWorld-Expo. The event is known as the "Olympics in the telecommunications industry"

	HK Mode Lingerie will be a new show at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, which is consistently voted Asia’s leading Conference Centre

Hong Kong's trade fair business is in a spectacular growth trajectory, with attendances up almost 25 per cent year on year.

That momentum should continue to build as Hong Kong is now firmly positioned as the trade fair capital of Asia, Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) says. The city’s leading exhibition venues – Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (HKCEC) and AsiaWorld-Expo – agree and are speeding up their expansion plans to meet projected demand.

Last year, nearly 800,000 exhibitors and buyers attended trade fairs in Hong Kong – up from 631,368 in 2004. Those business travellers are likely to stay longer, and spend almost twice as much as leisure tourists, HKTB data shows.

Preferred destination

According to Mabel Hung, HKTB’s Senior Manager, Business Development, surging attendances are largely the result of the first full year’s trading of AsiaWorld-Expo, which enabled the city to meet pent-up demand.

"We recorded 28 new shows in 2006, and 20 of those were held at AsiaWorld-Expo," Ms Hung said. And it’s not just the new shows that affirm Hong Kong’s status as a preferred trade fair destination, she added.

"Many of our recurrent shows held at the HKCEC are well established and continue to attract buyers and sellers from around the world. Hong Kong is a proven two-way platform, both to get to know one’s counterparts and find partners in the Chinese mainland, and to bring Chinese businesses to the world stage."

In 2006, 31 per cent of visitors to Hong Kong trade fairs came from the Chinese mainland. Around 21 per cent came from European countries, 14 per cent from Southeast Asia, 10 per cent from north Asia, 12 per cent from the Americas, 8 per cent from Taiwan, and 4 per cent from Australia.

Prestigious shows

Looking ahead, a number of new exhibitions have so far been booked for 2007, basking in the strong economy of the Asian region and Hong Kong in particular. Ms Hung cited prestigious shows such as Asian Aerospace International Expo and Congress, the flagship international aerospace industry event, as an example of the city’s ability to attract major international shows. The event will this year debut at Hong Kong’s AsiaWorld-Expo after running for 30 years in Singapore.

Indeed, AsiaWorld-Expo says a business performance "exceeding expectations" is speeding up the expansion of its year-old venue.

Allen Ha, AsiaWorld-Expo’s Deputy CEO, said industry has shown strong support for the venue, which has provided Hong Kong with more world-class facilities to hold a wider diversity of events.

"Apart from attracting new shows to town, our venue has also opened up enormous opportunities for the growth of existing market segments," Mr Ha said. "More events with similar topics can be found at the peak seasons now and they can leverage on each other, in turn creating a more powerful critical mass and create higher appeal for buyers to come to Hong Kong.

"This helps affirm Hong Kong as the ideal gateway to the Chinese mainland market, as well as a springboard for mainland enterprises to venture into the global marketplace."

Fairs a sell-out

In its first year of operation, AsiaWorld-Expo hosted over 40 major local and international trade shows, conferences, and entertainment events, five of which fully occupied all of the available space.

A highlight included the successful hosting of ITU Telecom 2006, attracting 62,000 participants from 141 countries, including 1,542 media representatives and 695 exhibitors from 37 countries, with the economic benefit to Hong Kong estimated at HK$900 million (US$116 million).

Apart from trade exhibitions, public shows and large-scale corporate conferences, concerts and entertainment galas have also been staged at the venue – among them performances by Oasis, Coldplay, Jamie Cullum, The Black Eyed Peas, Eric Clapton, Il Divo and Rain.

As a result, AsiaWorld-Expo is ramping up its plans to add an existing 30,000 square metres of rentable space to its current 70,000 square metres capacity.

HKCEC expands

HKCEC on the Wanchai waterfront is also forging ahead with its HK$1.4 billion (US$180 million) expansion, which will add 40 per cent more exhibition space. Last year, HKCEC was voted "Asia’s Leading Conference Centre" for the third consecutive year at the world prestigious World Travel Awards.

In addition to securing its recurrent shows, HKCEC is this year adding four new trade shows to its international portfolio, the venue’s Managing Director Cliff Wallace said. These new events include Hong Kong Mode Lingerie, Rail Solutions Asia, GTI Asia Expo and Senior Lifestyle Asia.

"It is even more gratifying as these are all new exhibition themes for Hong Kong," Mr Wallace said. "With the organisers coming from France, the UK, Taiwan and Hong Kong, the HKCEC has once again proved its position as Hong Kong’s strategic choice of venue for launching and hosting global events in Asia."