Rising Sun in the East - clouds in the West
A MICE weather and travel report by Bjoern Kempe
mmediately when
I
Covid restrictions lifted for Singapore in March I was one of the first persons to arrive there under the new protocol . The previous time I visited Singapore was back in February 2020 .
The place had changed : quiet , with the top hotels far from full and reasonably priced . My flight was a VTL flight and half empty and also reasonable priced .
The second foreign trip I did , in April , was slightly different : I went , under new relaxed protocols , to Manila in the Philippines and Jakarta in Indonesia . While the Covid screening in Manila was strict I had to do on arrival testing in Jakarta and there was no visa on arrival available .
Sentiment was down in these cities as international travellers were just starting to come back .
My most recent trip to Jakarta , Singapore and Kuala Lumpur , in May , already showed a very different picture . I couldn ’ t afford any 5 star hotels and flights were fully booked . Restaurants were also fully booked – Life was back !
It was a similar situation in India where I was able to fly in without much hassle ( although Business Class ticket prices had doubled compared with pre-Covid ). The planes were jam packed , as were the exhibitions .
I asked some fellow organisers about their feelings and summarise their responses here :
• India – A very strong rebound of the business at 100 % or even higher compared with 2019
• Middle East - Many exhibitions quickly attained 90 % of capacity after restart . Also Qatar and KSA , which have been hitherto less popular for exhibitions , have noticed a significant increase in business .
• Indonesia - Organisers generally happy albeit some anxieties about Chinese participation , but on average attendances have been back to 80-90 % vs 2019 .
• Singapore , Thailand , Malaysia and Vietnam are showing a more mixed picture . There have been some good shows and some ‘ OK ’ ones . Thaifex Anuga in Thailand was very successful and also many shows at MBS Singapore enjoyed a great attendance . Overall organisers told me they have 70- 85 % of the business from 2019 and that international visitorship and attendance from EU and China was still down significantly .
In Europe initial results have been encouraging with an average attendance from 35 % - 70 % ( although Messe Munich ’ s IFAT was around 80 % of the 2019 mark ) and that is with a war on its doorsteps , inflation at a 40-year high and some severe supply chain issues . To me the answer seems to be : the bigger the country the more domestic the show should be oriented post-Covid .
We can say after that pandemic the Sun is rising in the East first , just as in Nature itself .
It is encouraging to note that the problems mentioned above have not stopped some of the players extending their business : In Europe Nineteen Events and ARC purchased nice boutique businesses and Asia VNU announced new show launches in Thailand , Düsseldorf in Indonesia , and many
Bjoern Kempe big organisers have started to shift some of the shows from Hong Kong away to Bangkok , Singapore and Dubai – possibly a reaction to the continuing local market Covid restrictions rather than a trend .
In Asia at least , there seems to be a trend of focussing on local and niche events .
A Chinese return to the market by early 2023 would definitely help the skies to clear . Meanwhile , European hopes for a return of the mega trade show era maybe somewhat optimistic . I rather predict cloudy and cooler temperatures for most of Europe . Interestingly the UK market shows sunny spots poking through the clouds , an indication that market there has already nicely adapted to the domestic buyers .
Perhaps that is why M & A activities are starting once again in the UK while the rest of Europe is still restructuring , consolidating and keeping the cash together . Where will your next journey take you , I wonder ?
46 Issue 4 2022 www . exhibitionworld . co . uk