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HKCEC, located in Hong Kong’s central business district, ended
its fiscal year 2010-2011 with
record attendance
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It’s the height of trade fair season, but the flurry of business activity in Hong Kong right now is no flash in the pan. As the pendulum of international business swings East, savvy operators know that Hong Kong is the place where deals are done.
Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) figures show that meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions (MICE) arrivals to Hong Kong reached 725,779 in the first six months of 2011, a year-on-year increase of 10.3 per cent.
Trade fair attendances reflect that. The Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (HKCEC) drew almost six million trade visitors in the fiscal year 2010-2011 – a record number, and a surge of 25 per cent over the previous year. Many fairs expanded – some by as much as 83 per cent – and new ones debuted.
Cliff Wallace, Managing Director, Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (Management) Ltd (HML), described these results as “a remarkable achievement.”
“Over its 23 years of operation, the HML team has hosted 39,606 events and has collectively served about 70 million buyers, exhibitors, visitors and guests. These events have contributed significant economic benefits to Hong Kong by generating beneficial spin-offs for related industries, created numerous jobs and business opportunities for SMEs, and raised Hong Kong’s international image and reputation,” Mr Wallace said.
Economic Fillip
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Allen Ha, CEO of AsiaWorld-Expo Management (left) and Thomas Stanley, Partner (Transactions & Restructuring), KPMG Transaction Advisory Services, announce the results of a study on the venue’s economic benefits to Hong Kong
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The economic benefits of trade fairs are quantified in a new Economic Contribution Assessment Report by professional services firm KPMG Transaction Advisory Services for AsiaWorld-Expo. It reveals that exhibition and conference events held at AsiaWorld-Expo alone contributed about HK$13.4 billion to the local economy in 2010 – a 25 per cent increase over 2009.
The report found this economic fillip generated more than 26,000 full-time jobs, not only in the MICE industry, but across many supporting sectors, including retail, hotel and leisure, food and beverage, stand design and construction, and logistics and freight forwarding.
Allen Ha, CEO, AsiaWorld-Expo Management Ltd, said that particularly noteworthy in the KPMG report is the finding that Chinese mainland exhibition visitors typically have among the highest per-visit spend of all regions (US$2,154), about 110 per cent of the average in 2010.
A growing number of overnight international exhibition visitors to Hong Kong are from the mainland, where the economy continues to grow and local buyers are increasingly seeking to source from abroad. Latest HKTB data shows 42.8 per cent of MICE arrivals this year came from the mainland, a 15 per cent jump on last year.
Exhibit and They Will Come
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Hong Kong Electronics Fair, the world's biggest electronics event, held at the HKCEC in October, drew a record number of buyers
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HKTB Executive Director Anthony Lau expects overnight MICE arrivals will continue to grow in the second half of this year. He said one of the factors fostering this upward trend is the staging of some large-scale conventions and exhibitions, including the recent 2011 Asian Seafood Exposition (held at HKCEC in September), and the upcoming SIGGRAPH Conference and Exhibition on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques in Asia, which is expected to draw several thousand participants in December.
“In addition, sustained growth of the mainland economy and exchange rates favourable to major currencies against the Hong Kong dollar are going to bring more meetings and incentive travel activities to Hong Kong, especially from the mainland and other short-haul markets,” Mr Lau said.
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Dean Winter, General Manager of Swire’s Upper House and EAST hotels
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He added that, through various channels, the MEHK (Meetings and Exhibitions Hong Kong) Office of the HKTB will continue actively attracting more MICE events and activities to the city and providing customised support to event organisers.
Hotels are clearly benefiting from this trend, with high occupancy the talk of the town. Dean Winter, General Manager of Swire Hotels’ Upper House hotel at Pacific Place, Admiralty, and EAST in Quarry Bay, said last year had been “phenomenal” for business, and that this year was proving even better.
“Our timing was very good,” he said. “Coming out of the global recession, we benefited from substantial changes in sentiment.”
Arriving from All Corners
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Simon Yip, Regional Director of Marketing, The Peninsula Hong Kong
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With his two hotels targeting different market sectors, Mr Winter has noticed that both corporate travellers and entrepreneurs are coming to Hong Kong to do business. “Hong Kong being so regionally well-placed draws short-haul travellers here to hold meetings. Long-haul corporate travellers are transiting through Hong Kong on their way to establish offices in premier Chinese cities, or to look for potential production partners in the second-tier cities. It’s clear that Hong Kong is still very much the gateway to China.”
A trend among overseas entrepreneurs looking to start up in Hong Kong is also apparent in the current economy, Mr Winter added. “Hong Kong’s location and its links to China offer them many benefits.”
Mr Winter said it’s not just Swire hotels that have had a great couple of years in Hong Kong. “All our competitors are saying so, too.”
Simon Yip, Regional Director of Marketing-China, at The Peninsula Hong Kong agreed. “China attracts many business travellers to this part of the world as one of the few strong performers in the current global economic environment. As a key gateway to China, Hong Kong also benefits from its proximity to this growing market. As a result, many hotels in Hong Kong benefit when there are trade fairs, especially the China sourcing fairs, in town.”
Related Links
AsiaWorld-Expo
EAST
Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (HKCEC)
Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB)
Upper House
