2010 is an extraordinary year for China’s exhibition industry. On the one hand, remarkable success of the spotlighted 2010 Shanghai World Expo has generated new opportunities for exhibition industry; on the other hand, inflation and appreciation of RMB triggered more uncertainty in the context of a still murky financial crisis. Under a macro background that opportunities coexist with challenges, what sort of development trend and which market characteristics can China’s exhibition industry manifest in 2010? What would be like of the industry in 2011?
Charaeteristics for the development of exhibition in dustry
According to the Annual Report on China’s Exhibition Industry(2010) done by the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade(CCPIT), there are six characteristics for the development of this industry.
First, macroeconomic policy on exhibition industry continues to improve, and its regulated content extends to micro levels. Macroeconomic policies concerning China’s exhibition industry moved one step further towards perfection in 2010, with a series of laws and regulations gradually introduced to bolster and standardize the development of exhibition industry. From an overall perspective, incentives and support still hold sway over policy orientation in 2010, featured by direct subsidies of fiscal funds in specific supporting measures. For instance, in April, Chongqing Municipal Government issued Opinions on Accelerating the Development of Exhibition Industry, and set up special funds of 20 million yuan. The funds are mainly used for cultivation and introduction of famous-brand conventions and exhibitions to foster exhibition activities, to back up exhibition enterprises, and to nurture nongovernment-led exhibitions, researches on development of exhibition industry, information platform construction as well as exhibition talent training. In addition, what is different from the past is that a variety of policies and regulations during the year has been extended to micro-level operation of exhibition industry. For example, China Association for Exhibition Centers compiled and released in Beijing Safety Standards for Booth Construction and Other Temporary Facilities, mainly related to security issues amid construction at various levels, which plays an important role in enhancing safety standards for building temporary facilities.
Second, The stock of venues was on the rise, with new ones spreading to the Central and Western regions. For instance, Tianjin Meijiang Convention and Exhibition Center was put into service since May 31st, 2010, with a total land area of 356,200 square meters as well as building area of 100,000 square meters, as the largest exhibition center in Tianjin. On November 20th, 2010, the main exhibi-

tion hall of Wuhan International Expo Center, dubbed the “First Exhibition Center of Central China”, had its roof on. It has a construction area of 475,600 square meters, providing 7,400 international standard booths, equivalent to quadruple area of Wuhan International Convention and Exhibition Centre, with the total cost up to 2 billion yuan. Huanghe Sports and Exhibition Center in Wuzhong, Ningxia, laid formal foundation on March 19th, 2010. The Center plans to occupy 690 mu, with a mutual investment in construction of 400 million yuan; Tibet Exhibition Center finished design-plan tendering on November 16th, 2010, with total investment estimated at 686.94 million yuan, a planning area of 354 mu and total construction area of 87,020 square meters.
Third, the internationalization process of exhibition industry has undergone steady development, with deepening cooperation among industry organizations. With the further opening up of exhibition industry, its internationalization process is picking up pace. Not only international exhibition enterprises have gradually expanded their business in China, but also the cooperation among industry organizations has continued to grow. For example, Messe Stuttgart, the world-renowned exhibition enterprise headquartered in of Baden-Wuerttemberg, Germany, set up a representative office in Nanjing on October 20th, 2010, and signed a letter of intent for strategic cooperation with Nanjing International Expo Center. On June 12th, 2010, during the“3rd Sino-Russian Regional Exhibition Alliance Conference” held at Harbin International Conference Center, representatives from 11 CCPIT branch associations at provincial or municipal level signed a Sino-Russian Exhibition Alliance Agreement with 11 representatives from Coalition of Russian Federation Expos, marking kick-off of the first-time Sino-Russian cooperation between coalitions in exhibition industry. On July 13th, 2010, at Hainan (Hong Kong) Investment Promotion Event of Modern Service Industry cum Signing Ceremony of Major Projects, fve parties signed a memorandum of cooperation on exhibition industry, which are Hainan Provincial Exhibition Association, Coordinated Management Office of Haikou Convention and Exhibition Association, Macau Convention & Exhibition Association, Macau Fair & Trade Association and Macau Advertising Agents, promoting the development of exhibition industry in Hainan and Macau.
Fourth, industry exchanges remained active, with a new shining spot around the World Expo theme.
With active exchanges in 2010, the exhibition industry community not only discussed traditional topics such as the industry development, but also centered on the theme of World Expo. For example, On November 25th, 2010, sponsored by such institutions as Development Research Center of Shanghai Municipal Government, the Post-World Expo Shanghai cum 2nd Summit Forum of Chinese and Foreign Chambers of Commerce was held in Shanghai, in which experts discussed topics highly related to the World Expo, such as the Expo tourism, exhibition economy, low carbon economy, the Expo science and technology, and Expo commercial real estate.
Fifth, with continuous development, exhibition education has further enhanced its international competitiveness. After nearly a decade of development, China’s exhibition education system has been basically formed, with closer link between theory and practice, and further strengthened international competitiveness. On the one hand, colleges and universities continue to set up exhibition majors, and traditional training programs such as Exhibition Planners are carried out in an orderly manner. On the other hand, the school-enterprise cooperation in exhibition industry is continuously deepened, moving the education closer to practice. For example, Sichuan Bureau of Expo Affairs signed an agreement with Sichuan University to establish a comprehensive strategic partnership in July 2010, promising to make full use of their resources to cultivate exhibition professionals. Another example is that, China’s first School-Enterprise Exhibition Club was established by Tianjin Foreign Trade Service Center, Nankai University, Technical College of Tianjin Development Zone, Meijiang Convention and Exhibition Center and many other institutions in November 2010.
Sixth, industry associations have witnessed steady development, effectively promoting the healthy development of exhibition industry. In 2010, industry associations have developed steadily, with new ones established in Xining, Wuhan, Tianjin, Macao, as well as other cities and regions. Among them, Xining City Exhibition Industry Association was jointly established by more than 40 enterprises in industries spanning conferences, exhibitions, festival celebrations, booth construction, catering, hotels, advertising planning, etc.. Wuhan Exhibition Industry Association was co-sponsored and prepared by five enterprises including Wuhan International Exhibition Center, and Wuhan Shangge Exhibition Trade Co., Ltd.. International Conference and Exhibition Association under Tianjin Federation of Industry and Commerce Chamber of Commerce was set up by exhibition organizers, exhibition venue operating institutions, hotels, airlines, and travel agencies. For Macao Committee of Convention and Exhibition Industry Development, committee members include officials from relevant departments of the Special Administrative Region government, and also include representatives from major local industry associations and chamber of commerce. As an important force to promote the development of exhibition industry, China’s exhibition industry associations have played an active role in advancing self-discipline, boosting member communication, and promoting the standardization of the industry.
Different features of three big exhibition centers
In terms of the three big exhibition centers in China: Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou, the report also gave an analysis and comparison. The total number of exhibitions has rallied, and the distribution among Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou has remained stable.
The operation of the exhibition market varies greatly, with Shanghai taking distinctive advantages.
Judging from the core indicators
reflecting the quality of exhibitions, such as “business expectation attainment”,“intention to participate in future exhibitions”, “organization work”, “invitation of professional buyers”, “on-site management and service”, “booth construction”, and “transport of exhibits”, exhibitors have different evaluation of the three markets in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, with Shanghai gaining better satisfaction than the other two cities. For example, as to business expectation attainment, 91% of the exhibitors in Shanghai have “basically achieved”,“achieved” or “exceeded beyond” their business expectation, conspicuously higher than the 71% in Beijing and 82% in Guangzhou. As to the evaluation of organization work, 73% of the exhibitors in Shanghai choose “relatively good” and“very good”, while only 65% and 53% of them choose the same in Guangzhou and Beijing respectively. As to the invitation of professional buyers, 68% of the exhibitors in Shanghai choose “relatively good” and “very good”, compared to 50% and 43% respectively in Guangzhou and Beijing.
In addition, from the perspective of year-on-year growth, exhibitors’ evaluation on the Shanghai market in 2010 is significantly higher than that in 2009. For the indicators of “organization work”,“invitation of professional buyers”, “onsite management and service”, “transport of exhibits” and “software and hardware facilities of exhibition venues”, the evaluation are all more than 10 percentage points higher than those in 2009. In contrast, the indicators in Guangzhou remained stable on the whole, while those in Beijing declined over 2009.
The exhibition industry types in Beijing are basically stable, while those in Shanghai and Guangzhou are adjusted to some extent. The survey results show that, compared with previous years, the exhibition industry type in Beijing are basically stable. Education/ training/art exhibitions still ranked in the first place, and real estate/construction/decoration, consumption and recreation, chemical industry/environmental protection/energy, mechanics/ industrial/processing, and communications/telecommunications/electronics exhibitions still carried on with their popular trend in recent years. However, it is noteworthy that in Shanghai, the number of real estate/construction/decoration exhibitions continued to decline in 2010, dropping out of the top three types. Education/training/art exhibitions jumped to the third place from the tenth in 2009. In Guangzhou, along with the industrial restructuring, exhibition industry types have also changed in 2010. Contrary to the past focus onmanufacturing industry, among all exhibitions held in Guangzhou in 2010, the numbers of three types close to the end consumers, namely food/beverage/ wine, clothing/leather/textiles and toys/ gifts/crafts, have elevated significantly in the overall ranking, while the rankings of industrial/mechanics/processing, automobile/vehicle, and chemical industry/energy/environmental protection have dropped signifcantly.
In addition, in the three cities, business expectation by exhibitors after the exhibition is enhanced. The evaluation by exhibitors for the organizational aspects is basically stable, and that for the invitation of professional buyers has improved. Exhibitors and visitors have different evaluation for the same exhibitions, and the visitors are more satisfied than exhibitors.
What’s more, the overall expenditures of professional visitors edged up, and their contribution rate to host cities has increased.
Surveys show that in 2010, average expenditure of domestic and overseas exhibitors are 5,400 yuan and 11,400 yuan respectively, edging up to a certain extent from 2009. This may be related to the budget increase of professional visitors given the continued recovery of global economy.
Generally, there is a good momentum for the development of China’s exhibition industry in 2010. Then what is its prospect likely to be in 2011?
Good momentum continues in 2011
The exhibition industry is expected to maintain good development momentum on the whole, but both opportunities and challenges abound.
The Report found that, compared with 2008 and 2009, many indicators of China’s exhibition market have picked up in 2010. At the same time, the demonstration effect of World Expo will help to strengthen the emphasis on exhibition industry by governments at all levels, and the kick start of the Twelfth “Five-Year Plan” may bring a new opportunity for the development of exhibition industry, so these favorable factors have laid a solid foundation for the exhibition industry to maintain a good development momentum.
Traditional types of exhibitions will be basically stable, and consumption exhibitions are expected to become a new growth point.
Exhibitions have their own development laws, and their types are closely related to such factors as industry structure and consumption level. Therefore, the exhibitions relying on the resource advantages of different localities will maintain a relatively stable development trend. However, with the export diffculties caused by appreciation of RMB and the implementation of policies to boost domestic demand in China, consumption exhibitions may become a new growth point.
The demonstration effect of World Expo is expected to promote China’s exhibition industry to a new level in multiple aspects.
Finally, increasingly fierce market competition calls for strengthening market regulation.
Along with the reduction of entry barriers to exhibition industry in China, a large number of private enterprises, foreign-funded enterprises, and traditional tourism enterprises have entered the industry in recent years. Aside from competition among traditional domestic exhibition enterprises, the industry is also home to competition between Chinese and foreign enterprises, and between foreign enterprises; in addition, the joining by tourism and e-commerce enterprises could exacerbate the competition between traditional exhibition industry and other industries.
The rapid rise of the micro bodies and the relative weakness of macro regulation may give rise to abnormal market behaviors such as repeated exhibitions, and fraudulent exhibitions. Thus, it will be an important issue facing the industry as to how to regulate the market, and to ensure the rights and interests of exhibitors and visitors in 2011.