This week, UFI – The Global Association of the exhibition Industry, releases the 13th edition of its annual report on the Trade Fair Industry in Asia. For the first time, net space sold at Asian trade fairs surpassed 20 million net m2.
Our research shows that 20.77 million m2 of space was sold by exhibition organisers to their clients in Asia in 2016 – up from 19.69 m2 the year before. Overall, that represents a year-on-year increase of 5.5%. Of that total, 58% was sold in China – or in terms of net space sold 12.0 million m2. That is close to six times the space sold in Asia’s second largest trade fair market, Japan (2.06 million m2).
The Philippines was the fastest growing trade fair market in Asia in 2016 as space sold jumped by 9.6%. Other Southeast Asian markets that outperformed the regional average included Vietnam (7.3%) and Indonesia (5.8%). China, Asia’s largest trade fair market, was the second fastest growing market last year posting growth of 7.7% in 2016.
India was close behind China, recording a growth rate of 7.4%. Most other large markets recorded much more modest growth in 2016. Net space sold in Thailand expanded by 3.8% and Australia by 3.1%. Korea and Taiwan grew by 2.7% and 2.3% respectively. And at the bottom end of the table, Japan’s market expanded by just 0.5% and Hong Kong recorded a small contraction of 1.8%.
By the end of 2017, venue capacity in Asia’s venue capacity will be more than 8.1 million m2 and the number of venues operating in Asia will reach 218 – more than double the 100 venues that were in operation in 2004 when the first edition of this report was published. In 2018, that figure will rise significantly again after the opening of another mega venue in Shenzhen, China eventually adding 500,000 m2 of gross indoor capacity to the regional total.
Kai Hattendorf, UFI Managing Director, commented, “One of the most valuable benefits that UFI provides to its members is access to our proprietary industry research and analysis. So with this in mind, we are pleased to publish the 13th edition of this report which provides our members with the latest data and insights covering 17 trade fair markets in Asia.”
UFI Asia/Pacific Regional Manager and BSG Managing Director, Mark Cochrane said, “The Asia trade fair industry sold more than 20 million m2 in 2016 – representing a year-on-year rise of 5.5%. We are forecasting more growth in 2017 and 2018 as additional venue capacity in markets such as China, Malaysia, India, Thailand and Australia will unlock incremental growth. Yet again, Asia is strongly positioned to remain one of the most attractive trade fair markets worldwide.”
This report provides detailed information on the development of trade fairs and supporting facilities in 17 markets: Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, Australia, India, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar and Vietnam. The report also includes analysis on actual market performance in 2016 as well as forecasts and commentary on key trends in each market.
The research was once again undertaken for UFI, the Global Association of the Exhibition Industry, by Business Strategies Group (BSG) in Hong Kong.
As an added-value service, each UFI member is entitled to receive an executive summary of the research and to purchase the full report at a substantial discount.
For more information on this report, please contact UFI in Asia at:
UFI Asia/Pacific Office Suite 4114, Hong Kong Plaza, 188 Connaught Road West, Hong Kong Tel: +852 2525 6129 Fax: +852 2525 6171 email: asia@ufi.org
