Vibrant venues

The Asia-Pacific exhibition and convention industry has never been more vibrant and governments, countries, cities and the private sector are moving rapidly to cash in with a spate of new venues and upgrades. Hardly a day passes without a new announcement of a convention and exhibition centre to be built, or an extension to an existing facility coming out. But with all of this development there has been some concern among the industry relating to whether all of these new venues can be sustained in the region. AsiaWorld-Expo (AWE) is one of the newest venues to open and its launch followed years of debate in Hong Kong as to whether two large convention and exhibition centres could remain profitable. The Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre (HKCEC) had already had a massive space increase for Hong Kong's handover back to China in 1997. It was felt by management of that venue that another centre in the city would dilute the market. Organisers in Hong Kong felt differently and AWE went ahead. Now HKCEC will also expand, creating more space. AWE has only just opened and it has land available to it to continue to grow, so the ongoing story of Hong Kong venue space may never end. Perfect gateway Hong Kong has also long been known as a perfect gateway to China, but mainland venue expansion seems to be haphazard. High-profile organisers in Asia — who prefer to remain nameless because they are also tapping into the expanding exhibition and conference business in China — say venue development seems to have evolved into a competition between cities as to who can build the largest venue and that this could have dire long-term results for the industry. "There just is not the middle to lower-level management and staff with the experience to run these centres well, but all the main government officials are very proud and if Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou have a huge venue, then they want one too," one organiser says. Large new venues have also opened at Hyderabad in India and Abu Dhabi in the UAE. In Australia, brand-new centres have opened in Perth and on the Gold Coast. Anew centre is to open in the Northern Territory's capital city of Darwin and the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre has also announced a massive expansion adjacent to its existing facility. But the industry still faces a number of issues, which we have examined by talking to regional organisers. We also have an exclusive interview (see p52) with Barbara Maple, president of the International Association of Congress Centres, president of the Joint Meetings Industry Council and chairwoman of the World Council for Venue Management. Double selling One issue that has been constantly bubbling away in Asia Pacific for many years, and one that many exhibition organisers believe some venues and their managers have not adequately solved, is that of hosting multiple events in one venue — in other words 'selling' the same industry many times. This has been a constant theme in Thailand for many years and the issue is starting to emerge in China where managers may be tak-ing any business they can to fill halls, including 'copycat' trade fairs. Hong Kong-based senior vice-president of CMP Asia Michael Duck is always quite measured in his comments on this issue. He says he would like to see some consistency in the region. But it is going to take a global organisation, or at least a large regional one, to take the reins and create the necessary parameters. "In some countries or cities there are fixed rules written in to contracts (to combat this), however in most Asia (markets) there are not," Duck says. "There is much confusion in the industry regarding this issue. I believe there should be some consensus within the organising industry on this matter. "Without organisers there are no shows. The organisers invest heavily and take the risks commercially. In most cases the organisers are independent companies (some are state-owned, which reduces the risk) and so fair profile protection is very important." While Duck may have been alluding to state-owned companies in the context of the industry in China, it is also an issue in Asia's other emerging giant, India. New Delhi-based chief executive officer of Global Exhibitions and Conferences, Sanjay Handa, says his experiences have led him to the same conclusion — venues should have regulations in place to prevent similar shows appearing frequently as it will dilute sourcebuyer markets. "Each convention centre must stick to the rules and regulations in terms of allowing organisers to organise shows," he says. "There must be at least a four-month gap between each show in a similar or same product category."