Hong Kong exhibitions recovering

/

Hong Kong, 5th June: The Hong Kong Exhibition & Convention Industry Association (HKECIA) has released its latest annual exhibition survey, showing a rebound in the exhibition activities in Hong Kong since its post-pandemic reopening in early 2023.

In 2023, a total of 125 large-scale exhibitions, occupying over 2,000 m2 of floor space, were hosted in Hong Kong, which represented a 30% increase compared with the number in 2022. Of the 125 exhibitions, 73 were categorised “Trade” and “Trade and Consumer” – up from 40 in 2022.

When compared to 2019 (pre-COVID), the number of “Trade” and “Trade and Consumer” exhibitions dropped 9%.

EasyFairs taps into capital markets

/

Brussels, 31st May: Last week, EasyFairs announced that it has inked a deal with two private equity firms, Cobepa and Inflexion. Founder, Eric Everard sold his majority stake and re-invested some of the proceeds. Each of the three will own an equal share of the business. The deal reportedly values EasyFairs at in excess of €600 million (US$649 million).

EasyFairs was founded 20 years ago by Eric Everard and it has grown into one of the world’s largest independent exhibition organisers. The group is going to use the capital to expand more quickly into new geographies and sectors through geo-cloning and acquisitions.

MACEOS and MyCEB outline vision for growth

/

Malaysia, 3rd June: M. Gandhi, the newly-appointed president of the Malaysian Association of Convention and Exhibition Organisers and Suppliers (MACEOS), and Azman Haji Tambi Chik, CEO of the Malaysia Convention & Exhibition Bureau (MyCEB), held a meeting last week, to discuss the future of Malaysia’s business events industry.

Gandhi highlighted the need for market expansion to generate more opportunities for MACEOS members and the broader industry. He called for more collaboration with government agencies and other stakeholders. Gandhi also noted that talent development will be essential in order to building a competitive and resilient workforce in Malaysia.

Quick takes

/

GED 2024 features a sustainable theme

The annual Global Exhibitions Day (GED) was held this week on 5th June 2024. Now in its 9th edition, this initiative has gained a lot of traction as a global effort to promote the positive impact of exhibitions. UFI will, no doubt, soon release the results in terms of social media posts and overall impact.

Singapore touts strong performance of business events

The Singapore Tourism Board (STB) is pleased with the recovery and growth of the Lion City’s business event. Recently, two events outperformed pre-pandemic numbers. The Singapore FinTech Festival 2023 attracted 66,000 attendees, and the Milipol Asia Pacific x TechX Summit 2024 recorded a record 11,000+ visitors.

New event space in North Brisbane

A new event space has opened in Brisbane, Australia. “Superordinary” is a multi-arts space, repurposing urban spaces for events, arts projects, and artist development. The venue has indoor space of 1,700 m2 and 2,200 m2 of outdoor stages. It can accommodate up to 1,800 people indoor or 2,000 outside.

Macau hosts 307 MICE events in Q1 2024

/

Macau, 27th May: Earlier this week, Macau’s Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) released its MICE statistics for the first quarter of 2024. According to DSEC, a total of 307 MICE events were held in Macau in the quarter, compared with 234 events held in the first quarter of 2023. However, the total number of participants and attendees dropped 11.5%, down to 178,400.

Of the 307 events, 289 were meetings and conferences. There were 222 meetings and conferences held in the same period of last year. A total of 12 exhibitions were held during the quarter, which is two more than in the first quarter of 2023.

IFEMA Madrid and BEXCO sign agreement

/

Korea, 28th May: Spanish organiser, IFEMA Madrid, has formed an alliance with Busan Exhibition & Convention Center (BEXCO), a Korean venue and event organiser, agreeing to explore and develop new business opportunities.

Under the terms of the agreement, IFEMA Madrid will be able to carry out its internationalisation strategy and open up “new avenues for collaboration and promotion of trade fairs and events in Asia.”

Business events in Australia back to pre-2019 levels

/

Australia, 27th May: According to Tourism Australia, delegate numbers in key markets have made it back to pre-2019 levels, with the overall spend reaching A$4.5 million (US$3 million). In terms of business travellers spend in Australia, the top three markets were the U.S., China and New Zealand.

Interestingly, Tourism Australia noted that the strongest segment was incentive groups followed by association meetings. Tourism Australia is investing in hiring staff on the ground in Singapore and elsewhere in Southeast Asia.

Quick takes

/

Messe Düsseldorf post strong numbers

Group revenues increased to €423 million in 2023 – up 36% compared to €311 million in the previous year. Net profits also rose significantly, up 56% to €94.6 million. Management highlighted growth in Turkey and Asia. A dividend of €31.5 million was also approved.

The Washington Post lost US$77 million last year

The group lost US$77 million last year and it has recorded a 50% drop in its audience numbers since 2020. Management’s plan to turn things around? New revenue streams such as “flexible payments” and “frictionless payments.” Yikes. That doesn’t sound like it is going to be enough.

Referral revenue from Facebook expected to decline

This is an interesting article on the outlook of referral revenues. Facebook, as a source of referral revenue, has been sliding for many years. 82% of respondents expect that drop to continue followed by YouTube (67%) and TikTok (57%).

The ongoing story of AI vs. publishers

Another good, long article on publishers grappling with how to confront the threat of AI. Publishers and their lawyers are racing to figure out how to protect the value of their data and content. (It seems this article was researched and written by a real person.)

National Media acquires Australian F&B events

/

Australia, 16th May: National Media, an Australian exhibition organiser, announced the company has acquired some key events from Specialised Events. Financial details of the acquisition were not disclosed.

The acquired exhibitions include: Foodservice Australia, Food & Hospitality Queensland, Aged Care Catering Summit, National Restaurant Conference, and the Australian Chef of the Year competition.

Sydney pushes to lead business events in Australia

/

Sydney, 16th May: This week, Business Events Sydney (BESydney) released some details regarding its growing global business event pipeline as Sydney aims to Australia’s leading business events host city.

According to BESydney, Sydney has confirmed that it has won a total of 103 events until 2030 that will generate more than US$338 million in direct expenditure for the local economy. It is expected to attract about 128,000.

Taipei Dome officially opens

/

Taipei, 22nd May: Taipei recently opened a new venue designed for mega events. The Taipei Dome, a multipurpose stadium, is located in the Xinyi District. It is expected to massively boost business activities within the city.

According to Cheng Peng-Ching from Taipei’s Department of Information and Tourism, the government plans to market the new venue for concerts, festivals and sporting events. It may also host large exhibitions as well as other culture activities. Initially, the Taipei Dome will now focus on attracting events appealing to the local and South-east Asian market. At a later stage, they hope to target the long-haul market. (Taylor Swift, perhaps?)

210 “mega” events to be held in Hong Kong

/

Hong Kong, 22nd May: Ever since Taylor Swift played six shows in Singapore, Hong Kong’s government has felt the pressure to up its mega event game. This week, Chief Executive of the HKSAR, John Lee, promised a “mega event” will be held once every two days to “boost Hong Kong’s visitor economy and redefine its international image.” The definition of mega event may be stretched in order to host one mega event every other day.

According to the government of Hong Kong, a total of 210 “mega” events will be held during 2024, expecting to attract about 1.7 million international visitors who will generate US$550 million in economic impact.

Quick takes

/

Constellar (and Singapore) position for “festivalisation” market

At IMEX last week, Constellar was trying to position Singapore Expo as a centre ideal for festivalisation events. SingEx has a lot of competition with the more centrally located Marina Bay Sands and Suntec. In addition, MBS has announced expansion plans. SingEx has, however, hosted the Fintech Festival which attracts 60,000 plus.

AI licensing deals a hot topic with publishers

Meredith has signed a deal with AI tech company OpenAI. The Wall Street Journal’s parent company News Corp signed an AI content deal with Google. Soon there won’t be any human journalists or digital markets left standing.

India security market predicted to grow rapidly

BSG is often asked: “What are the hot topics in Asia?” “Which industries are high grow?” There is rarely an answer that holds true across the region – with few exceptions. Somewhat depressingly, security and “military adjacent” topics such as drones, surveillance tech and homeland security segments are one of those exceptions.

Singapore ranks 2nd worldwide in ICCA’s annual report

/

Amsterdam, 13th May: ICCA, the International Congress and Convention Association, has recently released its ICCA Ranking Report for 2023. According to the report, Europe hosted a total of 5,735 meetings, while Asia hosted 2,041 and North America hosted 1,873. Africa and the Middle East surpassed their 2019 levels, while other regions posted declines. Ranked by country, the U.S. led the table with 690 recognised meetings, followed by Italy (553) and Spain (505).

In the Asia-Pacific region, Japan hosted 363 meetings and ranked seventh worldwide, Korea hosted 252 meetings (11th worldwide), Australia hosted 219 meetings (13th worldwide), China had 170 meetings (18th worldwide), Singapore had 152 meetings (21st worldwide), Thailand hosted 143 meetings (26th worldwide) and India hosted 123 meetings (30th worldwide).

Ranked by city in the region, Singapore topped the list with 152 meetings and ranked the second worldwide, followed by Seoul with 103 meetings. Other highly ranked cities include: Tokyo (91 meetings), Bangkok (88 meetings) and Taipei (68 meetings).

Alibaba’s shares jump on 13% revenue growth

/

Hangzhou, 14th May: Earlier this week, China’s largest e-commerce company, the Alibaba Group, announced its financial results for the year ended 31st March 2024. Revenues in the financial year were US$130 billion, representing year-on-year growth of 13%. Net income in the year grew 9%, reaching US$9.9 billion. Diluted earnings per share for the year were RMB 31.24 (US$4.33).

In terms of its B2B business, revenues generated from Alibaba’s B2B business in China under the Taobao and Tmall Group, mainly through its 1688.com platform, were US$2.8 billion, resulting in a year-on-year increase of 15%. The international B2B business under the Alibaba International Digital Commerce Group, primarily on Alibaba.com, posted a 7% increase in revenues, reaching US$2.9 billion. The B2B businesses only accounted for just 4.4% of Alibaba’s total revenues.

Baidu’s revenues flat in Q1 2024

/

Beijing, 16th May: Yesterday, Baidu, the leading Chinese language Internet search company, reported revenues of US$4.4 billion for the quarter ended 31st March 2024, which is a slight increase of 1% year-on-year. The company recorded a decrease of 6% in its net profits in the quarter, down to US$755 million. Diluted earnings per share in the quarter were RMB 1.86 (US$0.26).

More than 58% of Baidu’s revenues were generated from its online marketing services, amounting to US$2.6 billion. That figure grew 2.9% year-on-year. The remaining revenues, categorised as “other” dropped by 1.1%, amounting to US$1.8 billion. According to the company, its AI business was still the key growth driver of the its revenues.