Opportunity knocks
Says Phil Chung , CEO and MD of the Korean operating company of India ’ s new International Convention & Expo Centre ( IICC ), New Delhi
How has your company managed to navigate the pandemic ? We hold the operation licence of India ’ s newest international tradeshow venue , IICC ( www . iiccnewdelhi . com ) and the Covid-19 crisis , of course , seriously affected our IICC construction process . We practically halted the project for several months this year , and now the venue is about 70 % complete . We would have opened the venue by now had there been no Covid-19 issue .
Due to travel limitations , I have had to manage the India business remotely from South Korea . My mother company KINTEX is the major stakeholder of our India company , so the experience of witnessing numerous tradeshows and exhibitions being held in our KINTEX venue , and seeing how organisers coped with the crisis together with our venue team , helped me gain insights for my preparation for the India venue operation post Covid-19 .
What is the current situation regarding Covid and travel restrictions in India ? India ’ s public vaccination rate is 55 % ( 1st shot ), and the Covid-19 curve has been lowered , which has allowed organisers to resume their trade show businesses in earnest from September this year . Now B2B show business is almost in full swing according to my staff and organisers in New Delhi . Our partner hotels in Aerocity next to the New Delhi Indira Gandhi international airport report that their operations are also in full swing , recovering to occupancy levels of around 80-90 % compared to 2019 . India is now a vaccine leader and they even started exporting to neighbouring countries . They also have huge pharma-exhibitions and conferences .
With travel bubbles expanding to more countries , India is easing its regulations for international travel . The government has developed a sophisticated public app ( aarogya-setu ), which allows you to self-assess and report your PCR test results / vaccine certifi cates , receive real time Covid alerts , and so on . The government has developed guidelines ( SOPs ) for organisers , venues and others to abide by in order to host and attend the trade shows .
As my mother company , KINTEX / Korea , won the ICCA Best Marketing Award 2020 for its success in preventing cases of Covid-19 during the shows we staged during the pandemic period , we decided to share all that information with the Indian exhibition associations and government bodies .
How are things looking in terms of the conference and events future pipeline ? IICC venue in New Delhi is still being built , so , by the time we open our venue , probably late next year or early in the following year , things should almost be back to normal . Organisers should also have accumulated experience in handling events post pandemic and , even now , Indian venues are being fi lled with B2B shows rushing in .
Where do you feel New Delhi sits now in terms of being ready to run events ? Trade shows and exhibitions are quite ready , while conferences still need time and we await more travel bubbles and airlines normalising their operations soon . However , many of the organisers based in the country tell me they are expecting that even the conference and events sector will come back to normal by May or June next year as the local Covid-19 situation stabilises , with almost all deluxe hotels operating normally with numerous weddings and medium sized corporate events and gatherings already . For the time being , we will see more hybrid conferences until airlines operate in earnest as before .
For organisers starting to look at India for their next event , what advice would you offer ? India ’ s now building many new world-class international convention centres such as IICC in New Delhi for the next few years , which will rank the country much higher when it comes to hosting international conventions or trade shows . India will be the best and largest Asian market full of international trade and business opportunities with the world ’ s largest and youngest English speaking population . There are so many reliable JV partners , sales agents , and funds awaiting global partners . I confi dently believe this is the right time for all international organisers to consider India as their next top destination for whatever events they organise . There are so many M & A and JV opportunities there as well .
48 Issue 6 2021 www . exhibitionworld . co . uk