UFI-XM Asia learns of Chinese opportunities

By Patricia Wee OPPORTUNITIES abound for foreign trade show organisers to tap the Chinese market, said experts attending the UFI-XM Asia Meeting in Singapore from May 7-8. CMP Asia president and chief executive Mr Peter Sutton said with duplication of events in China, "(Chinese) exhibitors are going to get fed up and select trade shows which bring them the best business and quality attendance". He revealed Chinese exhibitors are willing to pay more than US$120 per square metre in the US, so one of the best opportunities for organisers would be to target them at Chinese pavilions in the US and Europe. Adsale Exhibition Services chairman Mr Stanley Chu also confirmed a similar trend for the Hong Kong market. "Most of our shows (in Hong Kong) serve China too. Exhibitors and visitors have been increasing by 45% annually from China for several years. An increasing number of mainland Chinese come to Hong Kong to import and export," he said. Singapore Exhibition Services managing director Mr Stephen Tan added: "If you remember Asia nearly seven to eight years ago, we had a quiet China but ten years ago, we had a very strong Japan and yet trade shows have survived in Asia. "With 350 million people in south-east Asia, the buying power is there." Business Strategies Group Hong Kong principal Mr Paul Woodward said: "China exporters want to have more varied opportunities to meet overseas buyers. The key buying activity remains in Hong Kong and big European and US fairs." In China there are many venues with more coming. In the Pearl River Delta, nearly a million gross square metres of exhibition space will be available by 2006. These venues in the Pearl River Delta "are going to be filled once a year as they have been built for one specific event in mind and many other public shows" said Mr Woodward.