Quick takes

/

Labour shortages bite in Hong Kong (and in Asia)

The Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce is asking the Hong Kong government to import labour as its latest survey found that almost 75% of businesses in Hong Kong could not find qualified staff. Over 60% stated that they had been short of staff for one to three years. The MICE industry, hotels and F&B outlets are all facing similar challenges.

New CEO at QSNCC in Bangkok

Surapol Utintu has been appointed as the new CEO of Queen Sirikit National Convention Centre (QSNCC). Utintu has set a goal of making QSNCC a “world-class event platform for all.” Former CEO, Sakchai Pattarapreechakul has been appointed to the board committee.

Fukui prefecture spends on business events

CVB’s around the region are opening their wallets and spending to attract business events. Fukui prefecture is trying to compete with nearby Kyoto and Nagoya by subsidising a range of business events. This trend is gathering pace across the region including a surprising number of second and third tier cities.

IEG launches new shows in Singapore

/

Singapore, 24th May: International exhibition organiser, Italian Exhibition Group (IEG) will launch new shows in Singapore through its newly formed Asian subsidiary. The events will address the food & beverage and jewellery industries.

 

Café Asia, International Coffee & Tea Industry Expo, Sweet & Bakes Asia and Restaurant Asia Running ran from 25th to 27th May. The co-located events were held at the Marina Bay Sands Expo & Convention Centre. A total of 243 brands from 26 countries were showcased at the shows.

 

The other show, SIJE – Singapore International Jewelry Expo 2023 will take place from 13th to 16th July, featuring 223 brands from 26 countries.

Macau reports hosting over 200 MICE events in Q1

/

Macau, 29th May: Earlier this week, Macau’s Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) released its MICE statistics for the first quarter of 2023. According to DSEC, a total of 208 MICE events were held in Macau in the quarter, compared with 97 events held in the first quarter of 2022. The total number of participants and attendees grew 21%, reaching almost 200,000.

 

The events were dominated by meetings and conferences (196 of 208). The total number of participants at meetings and conferences was just 22,000.

 

A total of 10 exhibitions were held during the quarter. The number of attendees increased by 11% reaching approximately 175,000.

Montgomery Asia to launch new A/V event in Singapore

/

Singapore, 30th May: Later this month, Montgomery Asia will launch a new exhibition and conference addressing audio/visual professional and the entertainment lighting (AVL) industries. The inaugural Pro Integration Future Asia (PIFA) will be held in Singapore at the Marina Bay Sands Expo & Convention Centre. The three-day event will run from 26th to 28th June 2023.

 

PIFA will be organised by Montgomery Asia along with support from the Professional Audio Visual & Lighting Integration Association of Singapore (AVLIAS) as its strategic partner. It will also be supported by the Singapore Tourism Board (STB). The first edition is expected to attract approximately 100 exhibiting companies from 10 countries. Some 6,000 trade professionals from 20 countries are also expected to attend.

Quick takes

/

Arc acquires Marketing in Partnership

Arc has announced it has acquired Marketing in Partnership (MiP), an events and marketing solutions partner serving the asset management industry. This is Arc’s seventh acquisition and third in financial services.

Alibaba launches a ChatGPT service

Alibaba has begun to roll out its ChatGPT-style technology. Tongyi Qianwen is the group’s large language model service – “a system that is trained on huge amounts of data in order to recognize and generate content.”

PCMA unveils its new advisory board

The Professional Convention Management Association (PCMA) has unveiled its new Regional Advisory Board for Asia. The 16-person advisory board features members that come from a wide range of segments within the business events industry.

Alibaba posts slower growth in FY2023

/

Hangzhou, 18th May: Last week, China’s largest e-commerce company, the Alibaba Group, announced its financial results for the year ended 31st March 2023. Revenues in the financial year were US$126 billion, representing year-on-year growth of only 2%. Net income in the year grew 17%, reaching US$11 billion. Diluted earnings per share for the year were RMB 27.46 (US$4.00).

 

In terms of its B2B business, revenues generated from Alibaba’s B2B business in China, mainly through its 1688.com platform, were US$2.5 billion, resulting in a year-on-year increase of 2%. The international B2B business on Alibaba.com, also posted a 2% increase in revenues, reaching US$2.8 billion. These B2B businesses only account for just 4.2% of Alibaba’s total revenues.

Cairns Convention Centre to re-open in June

/

Cairns, 24th May: The Cairns Convention Centre has completed its expansion and the venue will be officially opening next month. The total construction cost was A$176 million (US$116 million).

 

The expansion will add exhibition and plenary lecture space capable of hosting 400 people, provide new floor space of 10,500 m2. The venue also added a rooftop banquet area and three state-of-the-art meeting rooms. The expansion will enable the venue to simultaneously accommodate multiple events featuring conferences and exhibitions of up to 2,500 delegates.

Marina Bay Sands partners with associations

/

Singapore, 23rd May: The Marina Bay Sands Expo and Convention Centre has formed strategic partnerships with two MICE professional bodies, the Events Industry Council (EIC) and Professional Convention Management Association (PCMA) with the objective of “helping to shape the future of the industry.”

EIC represents 19,500 firms and 103,500 individuals in the business events industry. Under the terms of three-year partnership, Marina Bay Sands will further enhance its commitment to event professionals and industry excellence, and will also provide a platform offering strategic recognition and thought leadership opportunities in collaboration with EIC’s Certifies Meeting Professional (CMP), CMP Fellows, and knowledge programmes.

Marina Bay Sands has also extended its partnership with PCMA, agreeing to continue its commitment to advancing the global meetings and events industry. Marina Bay Sands will leverage the collective strength of Las Vegas Sands’ properties in Singapore and Macao by bringing together the expertise and resources across Sands’ properties in the region to support the industry.

Quick takes

/

UFI, AIPC and ICCA agree to continue partnership

On the opening day of IMEX Frankfurt, UFI, AIPC and ICCA announced their intention to continue their strategic partnership. The agreement has been in place since 2019 and focuses on four areas: educational content, research, standards and advocacy.

QSNCC and COEX agree to cooperate

These two venues have signed an MoU agreeing to cooperate. The management teams hope to learn from each other in areas such as sales, marketing and operations. The agreement also allows managers to work at each other’s venues. Coex already has similar agreements in place in Vietnam where it co-organises some exhibitions.

MyCEB loses its top two managers

The CEO and COO of the Malaysia Convention & Exhibition Bureau (MyCEB) have both announced that they are leaving the organisation. In late April, Abdul Khani Daud, the CEO, announced his retirement. Soon after COO, Noor Ahmad Hamid, announced his departure. No successors have been announced yet.

Singapore highly placed in ICCA’s global ranking

ICCA has released its global country and city rankings. Although the data is limited to “ICCA-recognised meetings,” it is a useful resource to understand which cities are succeeding in attracting meetings. Singapore was the top ranked Asian city placing 13th on the global table.

Informa acquires Winsight for US$380m

/

London, 18th May: London-listed Informa PLC announced the acquisition of Winsight, a B2B events, data and media group, for US$380 million.

 

Winsight is primarily focused on the U.S. market and on the food services industry. The group’s business lines include: live & on-demand B2B events, data and research as well as specialist media service.

 

Informa plans to integrate Winsight into its existing B2B food services category. The group aims to generate annual revenues of US$115 million by creating more category leading events and services. Informa also noted that its “first party data engine,” IIRIS will benefit from Winsight’s close relationships with exhibitors, attendees and subscribers.

Koelnmesse now fully owns Indian subsidiary

/

Cologne, 12th May: International exhibition organiser, Koelnmesse, has acquired all the outstanding shares of its subsidiary in India, Koelnmesse YA Tradefair Limited, making it a wholly-owned subsidiary of Koelnmesse. The acquired subsidiary will be renamed Koelnmesse Pvt. Limited.

 

Koelnmesse YA Tradefair was founded in 2008. It was a joint venture between Ashwani Pande and Koelnmesse with its headquarters in Mumbai and a representative office in New Delhi. Today, the company employs has a total of 28 people and has additional offices in Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh. Following the acquisition, Koelnmesse plans to expand the existing trade fairs and the develop of the new formats. Further cloned events are also planned.

Baidu returns to profit in Q1

/

Beijing, 16th May: Earlier this week, Baidu, the leading Chinese language Internet search company, reported revenues of US$4.5 billion for the quarter ended 31st March 2023, which is a year-on-year increase of 10%. The company recorded a net profit of US$848 million in the quarter, compared to a loss of US$140 million in the first quarter of 2022.

Approximately 58% of Baidu’s revenues were generated from its online marketing services, amounting to US$2.6 billion. That figure grew 6.2% year-on-year. The remaining revenues, categorised as “other” increased by 15%, reaching US$1.9 billion. According to the company, its AI business was a key growth driver of the company’s revenues.

Sino Splendid narrows loss

/

Hong Kong, 12th May: Last week, Hong Kong-listed Sino Splendid (formerly China.com) released its results for the quarter ended 31st March 2023. Total revenues dropped 49% year-on-year, down to just US$1.2 million in the quarter. However, the company narrowed its net loss from US$2.7 million in the first quarter of 2022, down to US$585,000 in the first quarter of 2023.

 

More than 88% of Sino Splendid’s revenues were generated from its financial magazine and other media businesses, amounting to just over US$1 million. This represents year-on-year decrease of 41%. The remaining revenues were generated from Sino Splendid’s travel media business (US$102,000) and its money lending business (US$35,000).

Quick takes

/

Alibaba to restructure and list cloud business

Alibaba said that it plans to spin off its cloud business within 12 months and the group will also undergo its largest-ever reorganization. Its logistics business, Cainiao and “high-tech grocery chain” Freshippo have been approved for IPOs.

Six travel trends that could impact Asian events

Douglas Quinby, CEO and co-founder of Arival, looks at travel in Asia and sees an uneven recovery, the return of intra-regional travel, but questions remain about the return of the outbound Chinese traveller.

Amadeus reports rising hotel occupancy across Asia

Amadeus’ service, Demand360, offers a forecast of growing travel demand across Asia-Pacific in the second half of the year. And in the first quarter of the year, Asia posted a hotel occupancy growth of 62%, surpassing 2019 levels by 3%. This was largely due to the opening of China’s border.

Made-in-China.com’s profits rise 20%

/

Nanjing, 29th April: Focus Technology, the operator of the B2B sourcing platform Made-in-China.com, has reported revenues of US$50 million in the quarter ended 31st March 2023, which is similar to the figure in the first quarter of 2022.

 

The company’s net profits grew 20% year-on-year, reaching US$7.1 million in the quarter. Diluted earnings per share in the three-month period were RMB 0.1561 (US$0.023). The company’s management did not provide any comment its performance in the quarter.

BOL’s revenues up 14% in Q1

/

Bangkok, 11th May: Earlier this week, Business Online (BOL), a leading online business information service provider in Thailand, announced its financial results for the quarter ended 31st March 2023. The company recorded revenues of US$5.6 million for the quarter, representing an increase of 14% year-on-year.

 

BOL’s net profits for the three-month period increased by 10%, reaching US$2.0 million. Diluted earnings per share in the first quarter of 2023 were THB 0.08 (US$0.0024).