EW takes looks at the Greater Bay Area in Southeast Asia, with the help of the Hong Kong Exhibition and Convention Industry Association.
The Greater Bay Area initiative is a central government plan to integrate Hong Kong, Macau and nine Guangdong cities into an economic and technology hub. Together with the new infrastructure projects – the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge and the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong express rail link – which are targeted to begin operation later this year, it is hoped collaboration for regional industry will be simpler than ever.
In among all this infrastructure change and connectivity sits the Special Administrative Region of Hong Kong, a free port operating a free trade policywith little or no barriers on trade and no tariffscharged on the importor export of goods – a fact that underpins its hub status for exhibitions in Asia.
When its hand back to China is complete, the idea is that Hong Kong becomes one with China and this advantage may be diminished as a result. But the development of the Greater Bay Area places it in a region that is only ever becoming more attractive for organisers of international events.
Stuart Bailey has been based in Hong Kong for 15 years, during which time he started the exhibition organiser Asia Business Events and was part of the team responsible for launching Restaurant and Bar Hong Kong, a clone of the London restaurant show. The business was acquired by Diversified in 2009, and then by UBM, leaving Bailey in charge of a new company – Bailey Communications – and the event Learning & Teaching Expo.
However, his influence in Hong Kong’s exhibitions scene goes far beyond. Recently elected for second two-year term as Chairman of the Hong Kong Exhibition and Convention Industry Association (HKECIA), Bailey also sat on the Working Group on Convention and Exhibition Industries and Tourism (WGCET) under the Economic Development Commission in 2017.
Bailey says the ‘Nine plus Two’ cities, including Zhuhai with its marine tech and aviation technology and airshow, the entertainment hub Macau, manufacturing hotspot Dongguan and Guangzhou; home to the Canton Fairs, are being linked in a way that makes them greater than the sum of their parts.
What does this mean in terms of numbers? The Greater Bay Area has a population of 67 million, and KPMG places the region’s overall GDP figure at US $1.4 trillion. The professional service and auditing firm’s general estimate projects that by 2030 this figure rises to $4.6 trillion dollars.
As Bailey points out, the easier it is for visitors and exhibitors to get to Hong Kong, the more will come. And the trend for this influx from the Chinese mainland is already in place. If you look at the exhibition survey conducted recently by Hong Kong Exhibition & Convention Industry Association, of which Bailey is currently Chairman, there has been a 20.2 per cent increase in number of Chinese companies who came to exhibit in HK in 2017, which Bailey says indicates Hong Kong continues to be recognised as an important trade hub for Mainland China exhibitors to showcase goods and services to the global businesses community.
“Hong Kong is capitalising on its status with the development of several projects of interest to international exhibition organisers. It remains a centre for financial and legal business, as well as pushing to become an educational hub and a base for technology start-ups along with Shenzhen,” he says.
To support this, Hong Kong is experiencing a lot of internal infrastructure change. The New Convention Centre (NCC) will be a new purpose built convention centre above the new “Exhibition Centre” MTR station in Wan Chai. The building will contain 16,000sqm of convention and meeting space across three levels. Work on the NCC can’t begin until the MTR station has been completed in approximately 2021 , as the site also needs to accommodate exhaust vents for the MTR and a transport interchange to connect with bus services.
“However, this is not going to solve Hong Kong’s issue of a lack of exhibition space. Neither will the proposed development of 23,000sqm venue attached to the HKCEC, a plan that has been largely accepted by the local press, and smiled upon more than the previously proposed plan to redevelop the north Wan Chai sports stadium.”
To proceed, the government must first knock down the Immigration Tower, Revenue Tower and Wanchai Tower. These offices will need to be redistributed first and the exact available date for the start of construction on the site is still unknown. Space is short supply in this part of town.
There’s also the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority plan to avail 18,000sqm of the arts and cultural district for exhibitions. While the area is predominantly planned for museums and performance areas, or dedicated to artistic endeavour, Duncan Prescott has said that there will be no restriction on other events despite priority being given to the arts. This indoor space could be ready as early as 2023.
“I think it will rival the best cultural spaces in the world, something that Hong Kong has been in need of for some time,” comments Bailey. It’s also an area that caught the eye of exhibition organiser Montgomery, and their interest in art events, although they are not directly involved in the development.
Perhaps the greatest amount of readily available space dedicated to exhibitions is to be found on the other side of Hong Kong, at AsiaWorld Expo. Its phase two development site has already be marked for construction, but currently sits as empty slab of concrete next to the venue’s first phase. “They could build that within the next three years.70,000sqm at present will then be joined by an additional 40,000sqm already designated for use. Now just waiting on approval to happen.
“AsiaWorld Expo is a public-private partnership involving funding from the Hong Kong SAR Government and the private sector consortium including Dragages Hong Kong Limited and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (Asia) Limited, with the Airport Authority Hong Kong contributing the land. It is perhaps because of the complex nature of this arrangement that has meant that the go-ahead to build phase 2 has been delayed.”
The building materials will have to wait until the financial foundations have first been laid.
