The Hong Kong Exhibition & Convention Industry Association (HKECIA) has announced the results of its 2016 annual exhibition survey, which collects key information about exhibition activities in Hong Kong in the calendar year 2016.
The latest results are consistent with wider global political and trade uncertainties of the year, which have slowed the upward trend seen in the Hong Kong exhibition industry in recent years. Nevertheless, a number of the key outcomes of the survey are encouraging.
Despite challenging economic conditions in 2016, overall visitor numbers to Hong Kong exhibitions remained stable year-on-year, reaching a total of almost 2.2 million. At the same time, the number of exhibiting companies rose by just over 2 per cent by comparison with the previous year.
While the overall number of exhibiting companies rose from 2015 by 2.3 per cent to 68,544, a breakdown of this figure indicates that the rise was driven by a very strong showing from Mainland China-based companies, of which there was an almost 12 per cent rise. This suggests that Hong Kong is continuing to be recognised as an important trade platform for exhibiting companies from Mainland China to showcase goods and services to the global businesses community.
The overall visitor number in 2016 exceeded 2.2 million for the first time. Mainland China outperformed other areas and marked an increase of nearly 3 per cent. Both numbers of exhibiting companies and visitors also saw positive rises from Hong Kong participants.
In addition, exhibiting companies from both China and Hong Kong contributed strongly toward stand rental revenues, offsetting a softening in demand from other areas and helping to maintain a stable approximate stand revenue total of almost HK$3.4 billion for the year. The net square meterage occupied by exhibiting companies rose by 7.7 per cent to over one million sqm.
The Chairman of the HKECIA, Mr Stuart Bailey, expressed his satisfaction with the latest results. “Last year was a very challenging one for global trade, so seeing this evidence that Hong Kong continues to draw major local, regional and international companies to exhibit here is very positive news,” he said.
“I find it especially interesting to see the rise in both exhibiting companies and visitors from Mainland China, in an era when many cities in China are actively developing their own exhibition facilities. We continue to hold many advantages over our regional competitors, and it is vital that we recognise this and do what we can to maintain our hard-won status as Trade Fair Capital of Asia.”
This year’s survey was based on 83 completed questionnaires from a total of 91 ‘trade’ and ‘trade and consumer’ exhibitions of over 2,000sqm held in 2016.
Now in its 22nd year, the survey has been important in revealing patterns and trends relevant to Hong Kong’s exhibition industry that have helped exhibitors, sourcers and policymakers plan for the future.
The survey focuses on large exhibitions occupying at least 2,000sqm of floor space, and tracks organiser and exhibiting company numbers, visitor numbers, as well as net square meterage occupied by exhibitors and approximate stand rental revenues.
