China moves to reopen its borders

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China, 27th December: Last week, China’s National Health Commission announced plans to remove the mandatory quarantine for travellers arriving from overseas as of 8th January 2023. Beijing eased all its COVID restrictions significantly in December. This reversal follows some lockdowns in large cities in November as well as some vocal street protests in cities across China in December.

Currently, travellers arriving from overseas must quarantine five to eight days in a hotel. As of 8th January, travellers will no longer be required to quarantine, but they have to provide proof of a negative PCR test 48 hours before arrival in China. The wearing of masks on flights bound for China will remain compulsory.

RX launches subsidiary in Shenzhen

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Shenzhen, 20th December: RX (formerly known as Reed Exhibitions) has announced the founding of RX (Shenzhen) Exhibition Company, a wholly-owned subsidiary of RX based in Shenzhen.

In China, RX hosts more 70 trade fairs every year through its wholly-owned companies and joint ventures. These events serve 12 sectors including automobiles, electronics, smart manufacturing, gifts & retail, medical & health care, printing & packaging, catering and entertainment. Key amongst these JVs is RX Huabo which was established back in 2007. RX Huabo’s flagship event is the Shenzhen Gift Show. RX Huabo organizes over 10 gifts and home events across different cities in China every year.

Taiwan hosts MICE ESG Day

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Taiwan, 2nd January: At the end of last month, the Bureau of Foreign Trade (BOFT) in Taiwan hosted a Taiwan MICE ESG Day which included a press conference to release the 2022 Taiwan MICE Sustainability White Paper.

The White Paper is positioned as one of the most complete business events sustainability documents in Asia, covering the entire lifecycle of the business events industry across five key factors: sustainability, impact, resilience, collaboration and ownership.

Messe Frankfurt returns to growth in 2022

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­Frankfurt, 19th December: Last month, Messe Frankfurt, an international exhibition organiser, released its preliminary figures for the financial year 2022.

After many pandemic restrictions were eased in April 2022, Messe Frankfurt returned to growth again. In 2022, the company hosted some 310 events which attracted about 52,000 exhibitors and 3.3 million visitors. Its revenues are expected to be €450 million (US$472 million) in the year, compared with just €154 million (US$162 million) in the 2021 financial year.

Quick takes

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Optimism soars in Hong Kong

Mix Meetings summarises some of the key events set to be hosted in Hong Kong beginning in March including the Clockenflap music festival and the Rugby Sevens. Of course, March and April are also high season months for trade shows in Hong Kong.

Macau’s casinos promise to invest in other activities

Also on the plus side, Macau’s gaming companies have promised to invest US$15 billion over the next ten years to boost non-gaming activities including a range of business events.

China’s opening may be bumpy

Over TTG Asia, Karen Yue highlights just a few of the challenges ahead as China throws open its borders and potentially millions of people try to travel into and out of the country.

UFI’s Asia conference returns to Malaysia in 2023

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Paris/Hong Kong, 15th December: UFI, the Global Association of the Exhibition Industry, is bringing back its Asian conference. The association will hold its 16th UFI Asia-Pacific Conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on 2nd and 3rd March 2023.

The event is open to all exhibition industry professionals. This is the first time since March 2019 that the UFI Asia Pacific Conference is back in-person, face-to-face. UFI’s annual gathering has been on hold for three years due to the global pandemic and the travel restrictions that came with it.

Pico Thailand posts profit in FY2022

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­Bangkok, 13th 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 2022. The company posted a net profit of US$538,000 this year, compared with a loss of US$864,000 last year. Earnings per share of the financial year were Baht 0.092 (US$0.0024).

Pico Thailand recorded total revenues of US$29 million, up 74% compared with the year before. The company attributed the increase in revenues in part to the Thai government’s easing of COVID restrictions and the economic recovery that followed that policy decision.

KLCC posts strong results in 2022

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Kuala Lumpur, 15th December: The Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre (KLCC) announced strong results in 2022 surpassing its targets by more than 40%. The venue host over 1,300 events and welcoming more than 750,000 delegates. These activities contributed RM 285 million (US$64 million) in economic impact.

According to KLCC, of the events hosted at the venue in 2022, 50% were corporate meetings and banqueting events (corporate sales segment), followed by conventions and exhibitions which accounted for 24% of the total.  Of the events hosted during the year, 30 were classified as regional or international and about 100 of the events will return again in 2023. Since the venue’s opening in 2005, it has hosted over 18,300 events with close to 27 million participants. These events generated over RM 10.6 billion (US$2.4 billion) in economic impact.

Quick takes

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Hong Kong drops more of its COVID restrictions

This week the Hong Kong government decided it will no longer limit the movement of overseas arrivals or use its tracking app to restrict entry to public places. Hong Kong’s Chief Executive, John Lee Ka-chiu said that “the decisions were based on data and risks.” That and the fact that Mainland China also began easing its restrictions.

Big events announce return to Hong Kong

Mix Meetings summarises the positive news for business events in Hong Kong. Large-scale exhibitions such as Informa Markets’ series of Jewellery & Gem shows and RISE, a major tech conference, among others, are due to return to Hong Kong in 2023.

UFI webinar to discuss COVID changes in China

This week authorities in China took significant steps to reduce and remove COVID restrictions. UFI has organised a panel next week to discuss the outlook for exhibitions in China in 2023. Panellists include: Athena Gong from Informa Markets Asia, Diane Chen from Shenyang New World Expo, Monica Lee Müller from HKCEC and Michael Kruppe from SNIEC. You can register through the link below.

Large Chinese auto expo to go ahead

The Guangzhou International Automobile Exhibition is one of the largest car trade shows in China. The organiser of the event, which is also known as Auto Guangzhou, will be held from 30th December to 8th January. This is a good sign for exhibitions in China as well as the overall Chinese economy.

UFI’s annual five trends to watch

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Worldwide, 7th December: This week, Kai Hattendorf, Managing Director/CEO of UFI, the Global Association of the Exhibition Industry, published his annual take on the key trends that the exhibition industry should watch in the coming 12 to 18 months. This edition, unsurprisingly, is a COVID-influenced list.

UFI’s five key trends are as follows:

1.      Doubling down on customer focus

2.      The climate crisis will hit

3.      More data, less hype

4.      Staffing stays key

5.      Accelerating change

CNCCII to be converted into conference centre

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Beijing, 22nd November: The China National Convention Center, Phase 2 (CNCCII) is currently being converted into an international convention centre. In its previous life, CNCCII served as the Main Media Center for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics and Paralympics.

CNCCII will have a gross floor are of 420,000 m2 including purpose-built meeting and event space of 270,000 m2. The event space feature 30,000 m2 of exhibition halls; a 7,300 m2 pillar-free plenary hall; a 5,000 m2 grand ballroom, a 3,000 m2 summit hall, and a 2,600 m2 ballroom, supported by 14,000 m2 of pre-function space.

CNCCII will deploy a digital scene platform and an intelligent event application platform based on 5G, cloud computing, the IOT features and other technological innovations.

BESydney wins 250+ event bids in 2022

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Sydney, 28th November: BESydney has announced that it has secured 14 bid wins in two months with an estimated direct expenditure of A$40 million (US$27 million). In 2022, BESydney secured more than 250 events, with an estimated direct expenditure of A$181 million. This includes 85 global and national events through to 2029 with an estimated A$483 million (US$330 million) in direct expenditure.

Events won include: the International Mining and Resources Conference (IMARC) in 2023; IEEE International Future Energy Electronics Conference 2023 (IEEE IFEEC); IEEE International Symposium on Mixed and Augmented Reality (ISMAR) in 2023; International Council of the Aeronautical Sciences (ICAS) in 2026; and Australian Physiotherapy Association’s (APA) national conference ‘Physiotherapy’ in 2027.

Quick takes

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Beijing begins its climb down

Those rather brave anti-COVID restriction protests in China appear to have paid off. China's national health authority (NHC) has relaxed the national COVID rules, “in the strongest sign yet that China is preparing its people to live with the disease,” according to Reuters. Mildly infected people can now recover at home and some parts of the country are dropping use of the health tracking app.

A letter from Michael Duck, new UFI president

In his first official communication as UFI president, Informa Markets’ Michael Duck succinctly outlines the task at hand of the global exhibition industry. “We are going to be rebuilding our industry, revitalising it, reigniting the spark in our hopes and plans and dreams.”

Malaysian event tech company acquired

Evenesis, an events technology company has completed its acquisition of Malaysian tech startup Txtsy which specialises in “fully integrated online and offline events.”

Txsty was founded two years ago during COVID and has served some of leading exhibitions in the region such as the Malaysian International Furniture Fair.

Easyfairs acquires plastics trade fair

This is not an Asian deal, but it is good to see the gears of event M&A starting to turn again. Easyfairs announced the acquisition of the Kuteno trade fair in Germany adding to its portfolio of events in the plastics industry. 

Macau held 71 MICE events in Q3

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Macau, 25th November: Macau’s events industry continues to try its best despite being caught in a difficult position with China sticking to its latest version of COVID Zero.  Last week, Macau’s Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) reported its MICE statistics for the quarter ended 30th September 2022. Macau held a total of 70 MICE events in the quarter which is one event less than the same quarter in 2021. On the plus side, the total number of participants grew by 51% year-on-year in the quarter, with a total of 340,700 participants. 

Of the total 71 events, 57 were meetings and conferences, same as the number of the same quarter last year. Total number of participants at meetings and conferences dropped 3.5%, down to 6,100 participants. 

Messe München establishes new position in China

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Shanghai, 28th November: Messe München has announced plans to create a new position, “President China.” Evan Sha, an experienced trade fair manager, has been appointed as the new position which will be part of its subsidiary in Shanghai, Messe München Shanghai. Sha officially started in the role yesterday, 1st December 2022. 

Sha will also act as Vice-Chairman of the Board of Directors, and he will oversee most board functions at Messe München Shanghai. Sha has almost 30 years of experience in the trade fair industry. He graduated from Shanghai University and was a member of the Executive Board of Messe Frankfurt Exhibition in China from 2007 to 2014. Prior joining Messe München Shanghai, he was COO at GL events in China.

Melbourne Convention Bureau secures 110 events

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Melbourne, 28th November: According to the Melbourne Convention Bureau (MCB), the economic contribution generated by business events in Victoria increased by 33% in the financial year 2021/2022. 

According to MCB, 110 events generated economic contribution in Victoria of A$203 million (US$136 million). Those events run through to 2028 and are expected to bring more than 53,200 visitors to Victoria and result in over 90,300 room nights.