9,500+ visitors at HKTDC hybrid event

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Hong Kong, 13th December: The Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC) recently concluded its Lifestyle Sourcing Show | Physical + Online, reportedly attracting more than 9,500 buyers to its hybrid event.

The physical show ran from 1st to 3rd December at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (HKCEC), while the online show ran from 6th to 10th December. More than 580 exhibitors from nine markets showcased the latest toys, baby products, gifts and premiums, houseware, optical products, as well as wine and spirits. Seminars were organised during the event, and according to the HKTDC, more than 3,100 business meetings were arranged during the show.

Pico Thailand cuts costs, narrows loss

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Bangkok, 8th December: Earlier this week, Pico Thailand, the Thai-listed subsidiary of Pico Far East Holdings, announced its full-year financial results for the year ended 31st October 2021. The company narrowed its loss from US$2 million last year, down to US$864,000 this year.

Pico Thailand recorded total revenues of US$19 million, down 13% compared with the year before. Due to Thai Government COVID restrictions, many business events were cancelled or postponed in late 2020 and again beginning with the third wave of infections in April 2021. As a result, Pico’s revenues were predictably hard hit. Management responded by cutting overhead costs and limiting expenses to narrow overall losses despite the decline in revenues.

Exhicon acquires Creative Focus in India

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India, 1st December: The Exhicon Thailand Company announced that the company has successfully acquired Creative Focus Interior Design Co. Ltd. The deal also includes the acquisition of production units in New Delhi, Bengaluru and Mumbai. Financial details of the acquisition were not disclosed. Creative Design, established more than ten years ago, “offers a unique blend of communications through exhibition, retails & commercial designs and interiors for its customers.”

Pornprapa Chokpornchai, Director of Exhicon Group, said “We welcome them to the Exhicon Group and hope to help the Creative Focus brand grow the business beyond India across exhibitions, retail and commercial interiors. The exhibition and retail interior business and its offerings are at an inflection point of massive explosion in the post COVID world and this takeover will help Creative Focus to synergize and grow with other verticals of Exhicon.”

Indonesia optimistic about events in 2022

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Indonesia, 8th December: Indonesia’s Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy recently organised an industry event, Indonesia MICE Outlook 2022, held in Bali last week. At the conference, leaders expressed optimism about the future of the country’s business events, and government officials stated that more than 30 “international events” have been confirmed to take place in Indonesia in 2022. Global meetings in Indonesia are expected to resume in 2023.

Raty Ning, chairman of ICCA Indonesia, stated, “The year will be more exciting if the government could provide financial incentives to local associations to (encourage them to) organise events, such as annual scientific meetings and national deliberation.”

Quick takes

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Stuart Bailey advocating for events industry

We missed this one a few weeks ago, but it is worth watching. Stuart Bailey, Chairman of HKECIA, was on TVB’s show, Money Matters, in Hong Kong, making the case that the government’s overly aggressive and persistent quarantine requirements are damaging Hong Kong’s economy – and the damage is growing with each passing day.

 

Hong Kong’s inconsistent quarantine rules

The government of Hong Kong has tightened its quarantine requirements. Residents returning from the U.S. and U.K. now have to quarantine for seven days at a “government camp” followed by 14 days locked in a hotel room – at their own expense. Ostensibly, this is due to confirmed omicron cases in those countries. However, residents returning from Mainland China, which also has confirmed omicron cases, are not subjected to the same restrictions.

 

Alibaba loses bid to buy chip-maker

It is unclear if they really wanted it or if Alibaba’s management was trying please Beijing, but either way, the e-commerce giant lost its bid to take over government-backed chip-maker, Tsinghua Unigroup.

 

CEO of Easyfairs predicts margin pressure

Always interesting Eric Everard, founder and CEO of Easyfairs, anticipates, “it is going to be bumpy for probably a relatively long term.” He also expects margin pressure – at least in the near term.

Informa plans to sell data business

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London, 7th December: In a surprise move, Informa PLC announced that it plans to sell its data and research unit, Informa Intelligence. The proposed sale of the group’s fastest growing business would return £1 billion to shareholders at some point in 2022 via a special dividend and share buybacks.

The remaining proceeds will be used to fund investments in its events and academic publishing business. It is reasonable to assume that Informa’s management currently sees the data business as overvalued and the events business as particularly undervalued because of the ongoing global pandemic.

UFI outlines five trends for 2022

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Paris, 6th December: In what has become somewhat of an annual tradition, UFI CEO, Kai Hattendorf, has published his list of five key trends for the year ahead. In his outlook, Hattendorf rightfully points out that these are “in between times.”

The five trends that he identifies for 2022 are as follows:

1.     Customer retention

2.     Climate change and carbon reductions

3.     Data & digital debate

4.     A new staffing narrative

5.     Tipping points.

Alibaba plans re-organisation

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Hangzhou, 6th December: It has been a bumpy year for Alibaba. Perhaps in an effort to reinvent itself and start anew, the Hangzhou-based e-commerce giant has now announced plans to reorganise its international and domestic e-commerce platforms.

International digital commerce will bring together Alibaba’s overseas consumer-facing and wholesale businesses. The business unit will include AliExpress, Alibaba.com, and Lazada. It will be managed by Fan Jiang, president of Taobao and Tmall. Alibaba reportedly has more than 285 million registered users outside China.

China digital commerce will feature its China consumer-facing and wholesale marketplaces. It will be managed by Trudy Dai, president of industrial eCommerce and community eCommerce. She has been with the company since its founding in 1999.

Events return to Melbourne

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Melbourne, 12th December: Positive news from Australia. The Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre (MCEC) is once again allowed to host large-scale, in-person events as restrictions have been eased.

MCEC will host two B2C exhibitions this weekend. The Oz Comic Con Homegrown is expected to attract 7,500 delegates and the One Fine Baby Expo (held at the same time) will feature some 5,000 visitors per day. All events at MCEC will be held under the venue’s “COVIDsafe” protocol.

Quick takes

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UFI panel debates data ownership

In the final edition of UFI Connects in 2021, Paul Woodward led a stellar panel discussion focused on one of the hottest topics in the exhibition industry today. Merilyne Davies, Global Director of Privacy at RX and Sinead Davies, Head of Legal EMEA at Informa Markets and several others debate: Who owns the data and what is the data opportunity?

Hong Kong remains in difficult position

In what passes for good news these days, Hong Kong will give priority to business travellers going to Guangdong province when border crossings between Hong Kong and the Chinese mainland reopen. The numbers are not defined, but there will be a daily quota and it is meant to begin in late December.

New tech expo launched in Macau

Beyond Expo, a new information technology exhibition, was launched earlier this month in Macau. It reportedly featured more than 300 exhibitors. The visitors must have been local since the borders in Macau remain essentially closed.

Quick takes

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Singapore hosts largest expo since COVID began

Understandably, there were quite a few health & safety measures in place, but despite that Constellar organised Singapore’s largest in-person exhibition since the pandemic stopped events in March 2020. The Industrial Transformation Asia-Pacific 2021 (ITAP) reportedly attracted 5,000 delegates.

Dubai Airport reports trade visitors up 50%

More good news! Tarsus Group’s massive Dubai Airshow pulled in 104,000 “visitors, delegations, senior industry executives and media.” The organiser reported that trade visitor numbers were up by 50% compared with 2019.

 

China in midst of a sea change

There is a lot going on in China. A crackdown on tech and the education sector. The upcoming Winter Olympics. A possible meltdown in property sector. Closed borders. Slowing economic growth. And add to that The Economist thinks the Omicron variant will hit China particularly hard.

 

Comexposium launches digital marketplace

French global event organiser,Comexposium exited bankruptcy protection in October. Now the group has announced plans to launch CXMP, a new B2B marketplace focused on food, fashion and sport.

Global Sources organises physical event in Hong Kong

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Hong Kong, November: In late October, Global Sources hosted its first physical event since the beginning of the pandemic. The Fall 2021 Show Series ran from 25th to 27th October 2021 at the AsiaWorld-Expo (AWE) with more than 5,340 buyers attending the 8-in-1 show.

Fall 2021 Show Series featured some 1,000 suppliers, showcasing over 20,000 products and services. The 8-in-1 show included: Global Sources Consumer Electronics, Global Sources Electronic Components, Global Sources Mobile Electronics, Global Sources Smart Home & Appliances, Global Sources Home & Kitchen, Global Sources Tech Gifts, Global Sources Lifestyle and Global Sources Fashion.

Inaugural property expo held in Hong Kong

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Hong Kong, 26th November: Last week, COMASIA Limited, a Hong Kong-based exhibition organiser, launched its first property management services exhibition. According to the organiser, the International Property Management & Procurement Expo (PROPEX) attracted more than 8,000 industry professionals.

The inaugural edition of PROPEX was held at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (HKCEC) running from 4th to 6th November 2021. A total of 216 exhibitor companies occupied over 350 exhibition booths. Category coverage included property management products and services, refuse and waste recycling management, security control and surveillance systems, cleaning and pest control, car park management and access control systems and club house management.

Macau hosts 71 events in Q3

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Macau, 26th November: Last week, Macau’s Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) reported its MICE statistics for the quarter ended 30th September 2021. Despite the ongoing pandemic, Macau held a total of 71 MICE events in the quarter which is three events more than the same quarter in 2020. The total number of participants and attendees rose an impressive 24% in the quarter, reaching a total of 226,000.

Of the total 71 events, 57 were meetings and conferences – one event less than the same quarter last year. However, the total number of participants at meetings and conferences grew 84% to 7,000 participants.

In addition, 13 exhibitions were held – three exhibitions more than the previous year. The number of attendees declined 23%, down to 219,000 attendees. The total gross area occupied by these exhibitions was 67,000 m2, a year-on-year increase of 69%.

Ungerboeck acquires Priava

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Sydney, 30th November: Ungerboeck, an event management software provider, has acquired Priava, a cloud-based venue and event management system provider. No financial details of the acquisition were disclosed. Priava has a reasonably strong footprint in Australia, New Zealand and the U.K. which should complement Ungerboeck’s portfolio of services and its client base.

Through this acquisition, Ungerboeck will expand its international presence. Founded in 1985, Ungerboeck is headquartered in the U.S., with offices in Germany, France, Mexico, England, Australia, New Zealand, Mainland China, Hong Kong and Singapore. Ungerboeck offers its event and venue management software in over 50 countries. Founded in 1997, Priava, is headquartered in Sydney with additional offices in the U.K., the U.S., New Zealand and India.

Alibaba’s revenues up, but disappoints analysts

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Hangzhou, 18th November: Last week, the Alibaba Group released its financial results for the quarter ended 30th September 2021. The company recorded total revenues of US$31.1 billion, up 29% year-on-year. However, net income dropped 81% in the same quarter, down to US$833 million.

Revenues from Alibaba’s B2B business in China, primarily generated through 1688.com, were US$648 million, an increase of 15% year-on-year. Revenues from its international B2B business, primarily operating through Alibaba.com, jumped 34%, reaching US$732 million.