Quick takes

Canton Fair cancelled, but venue in Shenyang venue will open

There was some good and bad news from China this week. The Canton Fair (finally) officially announced that the Spring Edition will be postponed. New dates have yet to be announced. The original dates were 15th April to 5th May.

However in northern China, Shenyang New World Expo, stated that the venue has received approval from the Liaoning provincial government to begin hosting exhibitions again. The first one will be organised by Shanghai Modern on 27th to 29th April. Fingers crossed that this is the first of many announcements like this.

SCMP article on Canton Fair

Shenyang New World Expo website

Softbank to sell part of its stake in Alibaba

After his WeWork disaster, Masayoshi Son will sell up to US$41 billion in assets including about US$14 billion of Softbank’s stake in Alibaba – that amounts to about 10% of the company long-time stake in Alibaba.

Barrons article

UFI updates its economic impact estimate of COVID-19

UFI, the global association of the exhibition industry, estimates that US$145 billion in contracts will not be concluded as a result of events not taking place due to COVID-19.

UFI press release

Share price movement in B2B media companies involved in Asia

Figure 1: BSG B2B Media Index vs. All Tracked B2B Stocks (price movement over past 12 months)

Figure 2: BSG B2B Media Index vs. All Tracked B2B Stocks (price movement since January 2020)

Quick takes

May is now likely a write-off for events in Asia

With the developments in the U.S. and Europe in the past week, events such as TAITRA’s Taipei Cycle have been cancelled. More events in June and July are sure to follow in the weeks ahead.

Bicycle Retailer

Borders close across Asia

Countries and territories from Hong Kong to Macau to Singapore to Malaysia tighten entry restrictions and speculation begins about how long it will last and which events will be affected.

MacauHub article

WCCF Tech article

ChannelNewsAsia article

TTG talks to venues shuttered across the region

All across the region, venues are now closed. TTG checks in with some venue managers.

TTG article

Las Vegas begins close properties

As Macau did at Chinese New Year, Las Vegas properties announce closures.

HospitalityNet article

Macau hosts 1,500+ MICE events in 2019

Macau, 6th March: Earlier this month, Macau’s Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) released its MICE statistics for the fourth quarter and the full year of 2019. A total of 1,536 MICE events were held in Macau during the year. That is 109 events more than in 2018. However, the total number of participants and attendees dropped modestly down 5.4% to about 2,000,000.

A total of 1,459 meetings and conferences were held in Macau in 2019. That is 117 events more than the previous year. The total number of participants was 292,000, a decrease of 1.4% year-on-year. 58 exhibitions were held during the year, two exhibitions less than in 2018. The number of attendees declined 4.3% to 1,689,000 attendees. However, the total gross size occupied by these exhibitions grew by 6.4%, reaching 370,000 m2.

Malaysia secures 155 business events over next six years

Kuala Lumpur, 13th March: A bit of good news from Malaysia: the Malaysia Convention and Exhibition Bureau (MyCEB) announced the country has succeeded securing 155 business events from 2020 to 2026. It is expected the secured events will attract at least 368,000 delegates to Malaysia and generate RM2.39 billion (US$549 million) in estimated economic impact.

Some of the key events include: Congress of the Asia Pacific Academy of Ophthalmology (APAO) 2021, Conference of the International Society of Travel Medicine (CISTM) 2021 and the Congress of the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) 2022.

Australia announces economic stimulus

Australia, 16th March: In response to the COVID-19 outbreak, the Australian federal government has announced an AUD$17.5 billion (US$10.5 billion) stimulus package to support the ailing economy.

The package includes household stimulus payments for lower income Australians, tax free-cash flow boosts for small- and medium-sized businesses, an increase in the “instant assets write-off threshold” and various incentives aimed at driving new investment in the country.

Events halted worldwide

Hong Kong/Malaysia/Bangkok, March: Now that Europe and the U.S. are in the midst of a full-blown COVID-19 outbreak, event activity worldwide has essentially stopped. Early last week, various markets in Asia were looking to June and even late May for events to restart. Now, however, postponements through to and including July are being announced. Some recent announcements include:

The Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC) has rescheduled some of its exhibitions and conferences. The Malaysia Convention & Exhibition Bureau (MyCEB) has also released a list of events which are cancelled or postponed. Most of the events are postponed and rescheduled until after June. In Thailand, THAIFEX 2020 (held in Bangkok) also announced plans to push its dates from 23rd to 30th May until 22nd to 26th September.

Share price movement in B2B media companies involved in Asia

Figure 1: BSG B2B Media Index vs. All Tracked B2B Stocks (price movement over past 12 months)

Figure 2: BSG B2B Media Index vs. All Tracked B2B Stocks (price movement since January 2020)

Quick takes

Largest expo in U.S. opens as planned

CONEXPO-CON/AGG opened on 10th March. The organiser reported that exhibitors representing just 1.7% of total space cancelled and that they have already resold some of that floor space.

CONEXPO-CON/AGG press release

E-commerce in China proves resilient

Ele.me, Alibaba’s food delivery subsidiary, reports order levels are back to pre-virus levels. Cainiao, Alibaba’s logistics arm, is operating at full strength and JD.com, Alibaba’s competitor, is forecasting a 10% growth in revenues this quarter.

CX Tech article

UFI releases guide for venues during COVID-19

Together with APIC (International Association of Congress Centres), UFI has released a “good practices guide” for venues dealing with the COVID-19 outbreak.

UFI link to guide

UFI’s COVID-19 webpage is updated regularly

This is a useful site with a focus on facts and updates on the latest actions by governments around the world in response to the virus outbreak.

UFI resources page

UFI estimates the economic impact of COVID-19

Paris, 10th March: Earlier this week, UFI, The Global Association of the Exhibition Industry, released its own initial estimate of the economic cost of the trade show postponements and cancellations due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

According to UFI’s analysis, globally the orders that exhibiting companies will not secure due to cancelled and postponed events is valued at €23 billion (US$26.3 billion). That number is expected to rise as more events are cancelled and postponed. More than €14 billion (US$16.5 billion) of economic output has already been lost due to events not taking place.