Asia Pacific
Double whammy tests Hong Kong
and China resilience
Hong Kong and mainland China tackle big testing times head on, underpinned by strong fundamentals
s Hong Kong battles
to retain its exhibition
business against the
ongoing challenging
backdrop of demonstrations and
political tensions, news of the spread of
the coronavirus from Mainland China
is another serious test for the Special
Administrative Region’s exhibition
industry.
The fresh crisis, which has seen
restrictions on travel between the
mainland, comes as new statistics from
research group AMR International’s
Globex 2019 seem to suggest an
underlying resilience of the local
industry despite the troubles.
The Globex report admittedly
showed growth in Hong Kong’s
exhibition market had slowed post-
2016, but put that down to increased
market maturity and venue constraints
(growth slowed from 5.5% between
2010-16 to 2.7% between 2016-18). It
was still growth, nevertheless.
AMR forecast last summer that the
HK exhibition market could even be
expected to grow at 2.1% from 2019-21,
provided the protests toned down and
were non-violent.
Now that view is looking rather
bullish in view of the continuing
disturbances combined with the
coronavirus outbreak.
Conferences have suffered from
cancellations more than exhibitions,
that is for sure, although the new giant
venue on the block, Shenzhen World,
is unlikely to benefit quickly from
“All shows in public
venues in February
will be cancelled and
right now we have no
idea how March will
be handled.”
w w w.exhibitionworld.co.uk
the political strife by attracting shows
from Hong Kong given the Chinese
government’s decision to close public
venues, in the short-term at least, due to
the coronavirus.
“All major events in Shenzhen have
been cancelled for the time being – as
in other Chinese cities,” said jwc CEO
Jochen Witt, whose consultancy helped
design the centre. “It has been decided
to postpone the LED show, which was
due to take place from 24-27 February.
We believe that other shows will also
be affected.”
Michael Duck, Executive Vice-
President Asia, Informa Markets
told EW: “We as Informa Markets
are monitoring very closely what
the Chinese authorities are doing.
China Government offices are closed
until 10 February. Some tradeshows
which were to take place have been
postponed. We will ve also closely
advising our exhibitors and buyers
accordingly as announcements are
made.”
Sources in Shanghai told EW that
all shows in public venues in February
would be cancelled and, at time of
going to press, it was unclear how
March would be handled.
VNU Rapid News announced the
postponement of its TCT Asia event
for the 3D printing and additive
Above: Busy
aisles in Shanghai,
although
coronavirus has
blown in some chill
winds for both
health and business
manufacturing sector. The show was
to have run 19-21 February at SNIEC.
Organisers said they had taken the
decision for health and safety reasons,
and hoped to confirm a new date after
the Chinese New Year.
SNIEC was coming off a record year,
with exhibition sales up 7% fuelled by
strong business in the service sector,
F&B, automation, machinery and
environmental applications.
Organisers have been able to use
a digital traffic tool invented by the
SNIEC team. It works through WeChat
and enables an organiser to control
digital traffic both inside and around
the venue. SNIEC, which operates as a
Sino-German joint venture, also offers
full 5G coverage.
The stock markets have also reflected
the concern over the economic impact
of the virus. Shares in InterContinental
Hotels Group dropped 6.1% on 27
January, in view of China and Hong
Kong being a growing share of the
group’s business and contributing 8%
of profit.
The competitive landscape in Hong
Kong is concentrated among three
leading organisers, the Globex report
notes - HKTDC, Informa Markets
(former UBM Asia) and Global Sources
(now Clarion), capturing over 90% of
exhibition market revenue.
Blackstone, the US-based firm that
took over Global Sources in 2017,
merged Global Sources with London-
based Clarion Events in 2018.
Venue constraints in Hong Kong
continue to remain a major barrier for
the growth of the exhibition sector and,
if Hong Kong can regain its stability,
then AMR estimates a peak-period
shortfall of about 132,000sqm of
convention and exhibition space in
Hong Kong by 2028. A nice problem to
have when compared to current testing
issues!
Issue 1 2020 37