Jochen Witt, CEO of management consulting firm jwc, on the state of the world exhibition market, as published in EW’s redesigned Issue 2 2016.
Malaysia
SPICE, with a main ballroom of 4,500sqm opens early 2017. MIFF 2016 was its first pilot event – an alliance between UBM and Alibaba to start a new O2O (online-to-offline) trade experience. Buyers O2O experiences included Alibaba’s Trade Assurance programme to selected MIFF exhibitors as well as onsite matchmaking programmes. Major venue developments in Malaysia also lie ahead, including MITEC.
Middle East
As international organisers continue to launch new shows in Dubai, e.g. Intersolar Middle East (dmg Events) and Prolight + Sound Middle East (Messe Frankfurt), more hall capacity will be needed. In response, the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Center is currently being expanded by three halls with a total surface of 15,500sqm.
China
The Government of Shenzhen intends to build the world’s largest exhibition venue. SIEC (Shenzhen International Exhibition Center) will consist of a multipurpose hall of 40,000sqm and 18 halls of 20,000sqm; covering a gross exhibition space of 400,000sqm. The first construction phase is scheduled to be completed in 2018. Phase 2 will see the construction of an additional 80,000sqm, making SIEC the largest venue globally.
The new venue will cover a total land area of 137 hectares and will be located 4km from the Shenzhen International Airport Terminal. Valode&Pistre Architects (France) and AUBE (Shenzhen) won the bid to develop the architecture of the new exhibition venue. jwc of Cologne (Germany) has been assigned to develop the Master Plan for the venue.
Germany
Dfv media group, one of the big German publishing houses launched expocheck.com, a platform where exhibitors and visitors can read and write reviews and rate exhibitions. The platform is an opportunity for organisers in three ways: they get a direct on time feedback and evaluation by their clients; they can build up a big show-related community; they might convince potential exhibitors and visitors to register for the fair, especially when a show has received positive evaluations.
Italy
ISFCERT (Italian Trade Fair Statistics Certification Institute) released data for 57 international certified exhibitions. The comparison of the 2013 and 2015 data shows an increase in all metrics, particularly the net rented space (+6.30 per cent), followed by exhibitors (+5.69 per cent) and visitors (+3.51 per cent). These results were confirmed by the quarterly survey on trends in the trade fair sector, conducted by the AEFI. All metrics performed stronger than Italy’s overall economy.
Africa
Africa continues to attract international organisers: dmg events acquired South-African organiser Exhibition Management Services Pty (EMS). The acquisition will lead to the company’s renaming to dmg EMS Africa and adds five shows to the portfolio of dmg Events, including SAITEX, Africa’s Big Seven, WAMPEX, INDUTEC as well as CIS. The acquisition highlights the increasing importance of the African continent for the exhibition industry.
India
All decks have been cleared for the new Dwarka venue. The public-private-partnership covers 400,000sqm. The first phase will comprise 40,000sqm plus a convention centre and is scheduled in September 2017. In our view it is questionable if the envisioned time line can be met as an investor for PPP still needs to be found. Even though some of the German Messes are involved in the project, we believe it is unlikely that they will invest in a venue similar to their investment in Shanghai.
Australia
Australia will soon be opening a new major exhibition and convention venue, the ICC Sydney. The opening of the venue with a total exhibition capacity of 35,000sqm, including 2,400sqm of multipurpose space, is scheduled for December 2016. The first exhibition to be held at ICC is the Reed Gift Fair in January 2017. Elsewhere, Brisbane is planning a multi-billion dollar infrastructure development programme designed to set up the destination for business events.
