Quick takes

Cosmoprof moves to Singapore in 2022

The implosion of Hong Kong’s events industry continues. This week, the organisers of Cosmoprof Asia, BolognaFiere Group and Informa Markets, announced that this important event will be relocated from Hong Kong to Singapore. A “special edition” will be held at Singex in November 2022. It is hard to say how many of these events will ever return to Hong Kong.

Hyve’s business hammered

The Hyve Group, a U.K.-based event organiser, announced on Monday that it would postpone events in Ukraine indefinitely. At the same time, management is assessing the impact of sanctions on Russia by dozens of Western countries. Together, Russia and Ukraine represented 30% of Hyve’s pre-pandemic revenues. Adding to its woes, China where Hyve organises several large events including the massive China Coat Expo, is unlikely to open its borders in 2022. Hyve’s share price has fallen dramatically from 87 pence to 52 pence in the last five days.

Travel in Asia is getting easier – in some parts

Martin Donovan at Mix Meetings has put together a useful summary of the COVID travel situation on a market-by-market basis across Asia. Overall, the situation is still quite uneven.

Tourism leaders encourage Thailand to open fully

Thailand’s economy has taken a massive hit over the past two years. In a country where tourism accounts for close to 20% of GDP, the global pandemic has shut down a major source of revenue. It’s no surprise that tourism industry associations are pushing hard for the Thai Government to throw borders wide open.