Jaarbeurs sells China portfolio to PE

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Shanghai, 2nd February: Royal Jaarbeurs has sold its 70% stake in VNU Exhibitions Asia Ltd (VNU EA) in China to Advent International, a Palo Alto-based private equity firm. According to BSG’s records, this is the first PE acquisition of a China-only portfolio. This also appears to be Advent’s first investment in the business events sector. The remaining 30% of VNU EA is believed to be held by company founder, David Zhong and other founding investors. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

VNU EA was founded almost 30 years ago and its headquarters remains in Shanghai. The company operates across ten cities in China and hosts over 20 exhibitions and conferences every year. Its flagship event is Pet Fair Asia, which was launched in 1997, now features more than 24,000 exhibiting brands and attracts over 350,000 visitors.

UFI research: exhibitions poised for record growth in 2024

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Paris, 6th February: UFI, the Global Association of the Exhibition Industry, has released its latest Global Exhibition Barometer research.

According to the survey research, the exhibition industry in most markets around the world fully recovered from the pandemic slump in 2023, with revenues reaching a comparable level to 2019. In addition, the outlook for 2024 is also positive, with revenues expected to grow by 15%.

Messe Düsseldorf China posts strong growth in 2023

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Shanghai, 7th February: According to its management team, Messe Düsseldorf in China recovered in 2023 as its 13 largest trade fairs in China were back at full strength. 2023 marked its busiest and fullest exhibition calendar to date.

In 2023, Messe Düsseldorf in China hosted exhibitions covering a total exhibition space of 776,500 m2, that figure is an increase of 62% higher than the 2019 figure, the pre-pandemic level.

In 2023, a total of 10,047 domestic and international exhibitors participated at Messe Düsseldorf’s trade fairs in China, which is an increase of 29% compared with 2019. The fairs attracted more than 573,000 visitors, up 88%.

Alibaba’s profit falls 77% last quarter of 2023

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Hangzhou, 7th February: Earlier this week, the Alibaba Group, the largest e-commerce company in China, released its results for the quarter ended 31st December 2023. The company reported total revenues of US$37 billion, up 5% year-on-year. That is the good news. The group’s net income, however, dropped 77% year-on-year, down to US$1.5 billion. The company’s management attributed the decrease in profit to significant changes to its equity investments and a write-down of the goodwill value of Youku.

Revenues from Alibaba’s B2B business in China under the Taobao and Tmall Group, primarily generated through 1688.com, were US$747 million, that represents a year-on-year increase of 23%. The international B2B business under the Alibaba International Digital Commerce Group, primarily operating through Alibaba.com, generated revenues of US$740 million, which posted an 8% increase over the previous year. B2B revenues accounted for only 4.1% of the group’s total revenues in the quarter.

Quick takes

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Dubai wins 349 event bids in 2023

There is plenty of talk about Saudi Arabia investing a lot of capital into its MICE sector, but this shows just how far ahead the UAE remains. Dubai won a record 349 business event bids in 2023, reflecting a 49% increase in successful bids compared to 2022.

Singapore keeps focused as visitor numbers rebound

The Lion City’s international visitor numbers hit 13.6 million in 2023 – 71% of 2019 arrivals. Accord to the Singapore Tourism Board that figure was within its forecast of between 12 million and 14 million visitors. Tourism receipts were approximately 88% to 94% of 2019 figures.

Indian visa-waivers paying off for Southeast Asia

In recent months, Southeast Asian markets have begun to offer visa-waivers to Chinese and Indian travellers. That strategy has begun to payoff. Indian outbound demand for destinations like Malaysia, Thailand and Sri Lanka have started to increase. Searches for Thailand from India have grown 45% since its visa-waiver came into effect.