Hong Kong
HK punching above its weight still but in a tight corner
UFI’ s regional director, Asia pacific, Mark Cochrane shares his insights on the Hong Kong exhibition scene
EW – How is 2025 panning out for organisers of big events in Hong Kong. Is the recovery post-Covid continuing apace? Hong Kong has always punched above its weight. With just two venues, close to 900,00 net sqm are sold at exhibitions in the city each year. Net space sold, however, is still below pre-pandemic levels and for most events, both exhibitor and visitor numbers have yet to fully recover, althought the number of exhibitions has returned to 2019 levels.
EW – What are the biggest challenges of the market there currently? The list is quite long. China’ s economy is growing at the slowest pace in two decades with a GDP forecast of 4 %+ in 2025 and 3 %+ in 2026. Geopolitical tensions and the tariff wars are undermining the exhibition industry’ s recovery. Hong Kong’ s venue capacity continues to be tight and competition from neighbouring markets such as Shenzhen is rising.
EW – What of initiatives or incentives for international organisers? Hong Kong’ s government launched the Incentive Scheme for Recurrent Exhibitions( ISRE) during Covid. The scheme expired in the summer. However, HKECIA, the local association
Mark Cochrane
in Hong Kong led by Stuart Bailey, effectively lobbied for continued support for the industry. ISRE 2.0 was launched in July 2025. It offers 100 % venue rental subsidies for eligible events for up to US $ 1.3m.
EW – What of the HK venue infrastructure. Are investments being made? Additional venue capacity is needed. The most significant development is Phase 2 at AsiaWorld-Expo. It will increase the venue’ s total exhibition space to 100,000sqm. This is part of Airport Authority of Hong Kong’ s larger plan to build 11 SKIES, a new district featuring exhibitions, hotels, entertainment, etc. A welcome development, but not likely to fully solve the need for more exhibition space during peak seasons.
EW – Which economic sectors are the most promising for trade fairs in Hong Kong and how is the territory faring in competition with its neighbours’ offers? Historically, Hong Kong exhibitions have found success hosting highquality, B2B sourcing exhibitions. Examples include the portfolio of Global Sources, HKTDC and Informa Markets. However, supply chains and sourcing habits are changing. Competition across the border in mainland China is increasing.
So, perhaps in the future Hong Kong’ s growth segments will focus more on luxury goods, and investment that fit with the city’ s duty-free status, or perhaps it will become more like Singapore succeeding in emerging, knowledge-based industries such as fintech and green technologies. It is also possible that Hong Kong could benefit from the festivalisation trend. Certainly the future of exhibitions in Hong Kong will look different that its past.
Supply chains are diversifying away from China. That will benefit India and Southeast Asian markets. In addition, the underdeveloped market in Vietnam will finally start to realise its potential for the same reasons as India – new venues, a strong economy and companies looking for an alternative to China.
In China, economic growth may be slower and geopolitics will not be favourable, but you cannot ignore a market that accounts for more than 60 % of net space sold in the region.
For a fuller discussion on issues such as these, please join us in Hong Kong in November for the 92nd UFI Global Congress. EW
n Mark Cochrane is the UFI regional director, Asia Pacific, and MD of Business Strategies Group, a business intelligence and strategic consulting firm focused on exhibtiions and events in Asia. He has been based in Hong Kong over 25 years.
44 Issue 5 2025 www. exhibitionworld. co. uk