Taiwan shines bright

Taiwan's economic miracle serves as an object lesson for the rest of Asia. Within two generations the island has developed from a backwater into the world's 12th-largest trading economy. The entrepreneurial spirit that has made the island such a successful export-oriented manufacturing centre is now widening its focus to cover imports. Simultaneously, service industries have also been expanding fast. A relative latecomer to the international conventions, exhibitions and incentives (CEI) sectors, Taiwan nevertheless enjoys an everincreasing number of high-profile international and domestic events of all kinds. Taipei is Taiwan's only city with a venue for major events, although that is already more than fully stretched at many times of the year. The new Taipei Nangang Exhibition Centre should open late next year or early 2008. The central coastal city, Taichung, has a small World Trade Centre complex, while the southern port city of Kaohsiung plans new facilities to replace the existing convention and exhibition centre, which has long since been outgrown. Dynamic promotion Private convention and exhibition organisers would like more dynamic promotion and expansion of the industry, but at the same time they admit that with the current shortage of venues and hotel occupancies averaging in the high 70s-80s, growth cannot be too fast. "It's a classic chicken-and-egg situation," says one source. "But we would like convention hotels to be included in Taipei's new Nangang complex." Despite such restrictions on growth, Taiwan has much to celebrate. ICCAstatistics for 2005 show the island in 34th place in world ranking with 50 international meetings — an increase of 25 per cent over 2004 figures. Among cities, Taipei is in 27th place, ahead of a number of Asian locales with much higher profiles, including Tokyo, Shanghai and Kuala Lumpur. Taiwan does particularly well in hosting events linked to some of its core industries, especially electronics, medical, biotech and pharmaceuticals. Although much of the manufacturing has moved offshore, many major companies retain their head offices and R&D departments in Taiwan. An average year brings as many as 40 major conventions to Taipei. Recent highlights include the 2005 International Council of Nurses (ICN) 23rd Quadrennial Congress, the world's biggest international congress of the nursing profession. The event attracted more than 4,000 professional nurses from around the world, according to information supplied by TAITRA, Taiwan's External Trade Development Council. As Taiwan gains increasing expertise and international exposure, every year brings an increasing share of such prestigious events. May, for instance, brought the 2006 International Public Television Screening Conference (INPUT) to Taipei. Strategic location Accessibility has helped integrate Taiwan into global logistical networks. The island is strategically located at the crossroads of three leading Asian economic regions: Northeast Asia, Greater China and the ASEAN region. Seven major cities in the Western Pacific region are within three hours' flying time. The island's ever-growing economic strength has made Taiwan an increasingly important destination for exhibitions. The government is actively encouraging Taiwan's CEI industry with the construction of new purpose-built facilities, backed up by a newly consolidated marketing strategy. Over the past 30 years Taipei has established itself as the host city for 20 large-scale annual international trade shows organised by TAITRA. Among other functions, TAITRA manages the Taipei World Trade Centre (TWTC) complex. Designed as a 'one-stop shop'for convention and exhibition business, TWTC has four major components: Exhibition Hall, Taipei International Convention Centre, International Trade Building and the Grand Hyatt Taipei. Taiwan's exhibition business has expanded so fast that TWTC has already been outgrown. It is one of Asia's busiest venues with a year-round occupancy rate of over 80 per cent. The 2009 exhibition booths are no longer sufficient to meet the seemingly insatiable demand for space at some of the largest trade shows. According to Paul Woodward, principal of the Business Strategies Group, 301,250 sqm of space was sold in 2004 and 341,000 sqm in 2005 — an increase of 13 per cent. The private sector in Taiwan is already showing considerable interest in new opportunities that will open up once the new Taipei Nangang Exhibition Centre opens, comments Woodward. Taiwan's strongest fairs are still those focused on the industries in which Taiwanese companies are very strong, most notably the IT and electronics sectors, says Woodward. "Computex remains one of the world's more important IT fairs while Taitronics is a key electronics event," he says. "TAITRA is now taking the Taitronics brand offshore, organising an event with that name in Bangkok this year. Industrial machinery events, serving the needs of Taiwanese manufacturers, are also still important. "Even with so many of Taiwan's manufacturers having moved their factories into the Chinese mainland, the owners of those companies still make heavy use of the trade fairs taking place in Taipei." Local advocate Stanley Yen, group president of Landis Hotels & Resorts, and honorary chairman of the Taiwan Visitors Association (a non-government, non-profit organisation), believes passionately in Taiwan as an incentive travel destination. "Taiwan has very little incentive travel," he says. "We have tried to develop this market for a while, but previously all the hotels were filled with trade-related business — that's Taiwan's strength after all. "But looking at what is happening in Japan and China, incentive travel is growing fast. The situation has changed and if we really want to promote Taiwan, incentives should be the next focus." There is a shortage of hotels and occupancy levels are relatively good at present, but the bottleneck will remain until new hotels come on stream. Areas outside Taipei are better served, with new hotels coming on line shortly in Taichung. Kaohsiung and Tainan also have some new hotels under construction, or already being planned. But Yen says it will be about three years before there is much change in supply. "Everyone is looking at tourists from China, but CEI business connects us with the world," says Yen. He says Taiwan should make more of its best-kept secret, its numerous hot-spring resorts. "Originally they did very local business, now over the past year they have been getting more regional travellers from Hong Kong, Singapore and Japan," he says. In combination with Taiwan's new bed and breakfast (B&B) culture, hot springs offer a unique attraction. Despite the name, these small establishments are actually very sophisticated. Many are owned by artists who construct a few small villas for visitors. "These places are perfect for upmarket small incentives and getaway meetings," says Yen. New venue The Taipei Nangang Exhibition Centre, planned and developed by Taiwan's ministry of Economic Affairs, is nearing completion. This purpose-built, two-level complex is located about 15 minutes' drive east of the Taipei World Trade Centre (TWTC), along the Huangdong Expressway. Construction of the US$110 million facility started in February 2004. When completed, its two exhibition halls (which can be divided) will stand one over the other. The building occupies six hectares will have a total floor area of 140,000 sqm including exhibition space of 48,000 sqm. There will be 2,650 standard-size (3x3m) booths, which will give Taipei City 4,659 booths in all — sufficient for foreseeable needs for quite some time. The opening date has not yet been announced, but the complex is expected to be in use late next year or early in 2008. New centre will boost local market Taipei Nangang Exhibition Centre (TNEC) will be the venue of choice for some of the world's most famous trade shows including Computex Taipei, the world's second-largest computer show; AMPA, Asia's largest trade show for auto parts and accessories; Taitronics, Asia's leading trade show for electronic products and components; and Taipei Cycle, Asia's largest trade show for bicycles, bicycle parts and accessories. The opening of the new facilities will virtually double Taiwan's total exhibition space to more than 95,000 sqm, which will enable the island to bid for many events that have previously been out of range. It will at last be possible to expand Computex and perhaps make it possible for Taiwan to grow the event into the world's largest such show. In his remarks at the opening of this year's Computex, Hsu Chih-jen, chairman of the TAITRA (which helped organise the exhibition) said the new facility will resolve the annual battle for space. This year's Computex was the 25th such show and it broke all records, according to a report in the Taipei Times of June 1. The five-day event attracted 30,275 buyers, compared with 28,254 in 2005. The US, Japan, Korea, Hong Kong and Singapore were the leading sources of visitors, while there were visitor increases from mainland China, India and Thailand. There were 130,000 attendees. Many companies use this show to launch their new products and over the years it has helped to make Taiwan the focal point of the computer industry. The event's success has proved something of a mixed blessing, however, as it highlights Taiwan's current shortage of exhibition space. Convenient location An expressway links TNEC with TWTC. A booming business area located on the eastern outskirts of Taipei City, Nangang has two ultra-modern business parks for hi-tech companies: Nehu Science Park and Nangang Software Park. Nangang is ideally located at the junction of three major trans-island highways. Exhibits arriving by sea will take only about 30 minutes from Keelung Harbour, while CKS International Airport is 50 minutes away by road. Within a year of the opening of TNEC, the new Nehu MRT Line (Subway) is scheduled to be completed. Meanwhile, construction has already begun on another subway, the Nangang MRT Line, which will eventually link the TNEC directly with the TWTC. Taichung offers incentive options Taichung is Taiwan's third-largest city with a population of just under a million. Located 155km south of Taipei, it is a key transport hub for the island's densely populated west coast. It has an important and expanding international harbour linked with a leading warehousing and wholesale centre, which enables it to play an important role in Taiwan's external trade, especially with the Chinese mainland. Taichung has a history of almost 125 years and it is renowned for its rich cultural life, its fine museums and art galleries, its temples and educational institutions. It has a lively cultural calendar throughout the year. The World Trade Centre Building offers 1,300 sqm of exhibition and conference space. Port city Kaohsiung is among the world's five busiest ports and is the centre of Taiwan's petrochemicals and heavy industry. The city has ambitious plans to start construction next year on a completion by the end of the decade. This will supplement the existing exhibition area with 1,860 sqm and plenary convention hall with a maximum capacity of 2,000 attendees, plus two additional halls that can hold 800 each. The potential global market for CEI business spurred Taiwan to designate this as a priority among the island's emerging industries, says James Chu. As Chief of Taiwan's MICE project office (MPO), established last year, he has the daunting task of aggressively promoting the island's CEI industry at home and abroad under the umbrella of the Department of Commerce in the Ministry of Economic Affairs. As part of the drive to raise its international profile and boost Taiwan's international competitiveness in this arena, his office functions as a one-stop option for information and liaison among planners and industry providers, clients, venues and government departments.