8th Edition of "Trade Fairs in Asia" Report available now

We published the 8th edition of our annual "Trade Fairs in Asia" report this week. You can buy it on the BSG website. Here is the full press release along with some of the highlights from the report.

July 2, 2012 – Paris/Hong Kong: Growth of the trade fair industry in Asia was boosted in 2011 by strong increases in south-east Asia according to the eighth edition of UFI’s annual report on the trade fair market in Asia.

Overall, exhibition space sales grew by 2.6% last year. Net area sold by organisers in Asia reached a total of 15.9 million m².  Of that total, almost 55% was sold in China and 12% was sold in Japan. The research was once again undertaken for UFI, the global association of the exhibition industry, by Business Strategies Group (BSG) in Hong Kong.

Growth was clearly highest in south-east Asia in 2011. Singapore and Malaysia were the fastest growing markets in 2011 - up 15% and 14% respectively. The exhibition market in the Philippines grew by 8.8%. Vietnam was the only exception to this south-east Asian trend, posting growth of just 1.2%.

The larger exhibition markets grew notably more slowly in 2011. Asia’s largest market, China, grew by 2.5%, while India posted an increase of 3.3%. Two other large markets, Korea and Hong Kong grew by 2.2% and 1.1% respectively.

Three exhibition markets contracted in 2011. Australia slipped by 1% and the small exhibition market in Macau dropped by almost 11%. Japan, the second largest exhibition market in Asia, contracted by nearly 3% following the March 2011 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear accident.

In terms of capacity, by the end of 2012 there will be almost 6,490,000 m² available at venues in Asia. That is up from 3 million m² recorded in the first edition of this report in 2005.

This year, the total number of venues in Asia will be 187. Of that figure, there will be 97 venues in China. India will have 13 venues and Japan and Korea will each be operating 12 venues. Nearly 68% of all venue capacity in Asia is now in China – more than 12 times the next largest market, Japan (4.42 million m² vs. 350,606 m²).

Paul Woodward, UFI Managing Director, commented, “The exhibition industry in Asia continues to be a remarkably dynamic and fast-growing market. As the exhibition markets in the traditional, more mature economies have been faced with challenging economic conditions, the industry in Asia has continually managed to grow year after year."

"As a result, a rising number of international exhibition organisers are looking to participate in the growth in Asia. We are also pleased to see UFI's membership in Asia continue to grow along with the industry there. UFI now has 193 members in Asia - including 73 in mainland China and we anticipate that interest in the region will remain high."

This annual report has again been edited by UFI Asia/Pacific Regional Manager and BSG Managing Director, Mark Cochrane.  He commented, “Growth of the exhibition industry in south-east Asia outpaced the rest of the region in 2011 and we expect to see an extension of that exciting trend continue throughout 2012.”

“We are forecasting exhibition space sales at trade fairs in Asia to reach 16.3 million m² sold in 2012. Although the south-east Asian markets are expected to be strong performers again in 2012, the key question will be how well the largest exhibition markets such as China and India will hold up in face of weak economic conditions in key export markets in Europe and the U.S. We anticipate that the growth of intra-Asian trade will largely offset the economic softness in Europe and the U.S.”

This report provides detailed information on the development of trade fairs and supporting facilities in 15 markets: China, Hong Kong, Macau, Australia, India, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam. The report also includes analysis on actual market performance in 2011 as well as forecasts and commentary on key trends in each market.

As an added-value service, each UFI member will be entitled to receive a four page executive summary of the research and to purchase the full report at a substantial discount.