BEIJING—A strong and forceful recovery is underway in China since the removal of the final restriction on its trade show industry March 15, when the government announced it would allow all categories of visas to be issued.
This is good news for Chinese trade shows, as well as venues such as the Shenyang New World EXPO, which recently was the site of the 24th China Northeast International Dental Equipment Exhibition & Symposium on Oral Health (CNDE). The Shenyang EXPO has 40 events on the books this year and expects total attendance to exceed 700,000 visitors.
Consumer expositions are returning as well, with the China International Consumer Products Expo (CICPE) in April hosting more than 3,382 brands from 65 countries and regions in Haikou, Hainan Province. CICPE was the first large-scale live international expo since China reversed its COVID-19 stand. Overall, 184 exhibitions were held across China from January to February of this year, up 1.1 times year-on-year, which is almost 90% of the activity from the same period in 2019, according to the Ministry of Commerce, People’s Republic of China.
“It’s great to see the exhibition industry getting back to normalcy in China,” Michael Duck, President, UFI; EVP, Commercial Development at Informa Markets; and EVP, Commercial Development, Group at Informa Group, said. “I have personally attended shows in recent weeks in Chengdu, Shenzhen and Hangzhou, and all of them are at the same or near 2019 levels of square meters sold. Buyer traffic is also good; however, international buyers and exhibitors are not at full 2019 levels yet due to reduction of flights access into China. This is also common in many countries though, due to reduction of pilot and crew availability. However, these are starting to increase. I know from UFI members and my own company that the Shanghai shows are back to being very active.”
Related. In the Next Step to Full Recovery, China Issues All Categories of Visas as of March 15
The news is the same at RX Greater China, which organizes about 70 live events annually in industries ranging from automotive to healthcare to retail, bringing together 30,000 exhibitors and more than 1 million visitors from China and internationally.
“RX is now welcoming overseas exhibitors and visitors back to China, whilst also bringing Chinese companies to key overseas markets,” Chien-Ee Yeh, President, Asia Pacific, at RX Global said. “There is a large interest in China-based companies looking to expand their market in ASEAN countries. Therefore, we launched Automotive Manufacturing Technology and Materials Exhibition (AMTS) in Indonesia not long ago. In the latter half of this year, we are also looking to launch WEPACK ASEAN in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. These measures will aid the recovery of the international trade after the three-year epidemic, which is very important for the China-based exporters and for the overall economic resurgence in China.
“At our RX China events, I see much confidence, customers are again able to conduct face-to-face business and feedback has been very positive and encouraging,” he added. “It is great to see so many happy and excited faces back on the show floor. We are back to doing what we do best – building businesses.”
Reach Michael Duck at Michael.Duck@informa.com; Chien-Ee Yen at chien.yeh@rxglobal.com
