Weekly Newsletter
Paris, 2nd February: UFI, the Global Association of the Exhibition Industry, has appointed Marie-Laure Bellon as its next Chief Operating Officer, effective 1st March 2021. Bellon will take over the role from Sonia Thomas, who will leave UFI in late March after more than 14 years with the association.
Read MoreHangzhou, 2nd February: Earlier this week, the Alibaba Group, the largest e-commerce company in China, announced its results for the quarter ended 31st December 2020. The company reported total revenues of US$34 billion, up 37% year-on-year. The group’s net income jumped 56%, reaching US$12 billion.
Read MoreKorea, 2nd February: Gangwon, a province in eastern Korea, has revealed plans to build an international convention centre on the site that hosted the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics.
Read MoreIndia, 28th January: The Government of India relaxed its restrictions under the new COVID-19 guidelines, allowing all kinds of exhibitions to be held anywhere in the country. Prior to this announcement, only B2B exhibitions were permitted.
The new guidelines take effect on 1st February. In addition to exhibitions, the government will also now allow swimming pools and cinemas to operate at 50% capacity.
Tokyo Big Sight hosted two of Informa Markets’ B2B exhibitions in January. In addition, Tokyo issued new anti-COVID guidelines for business event organisers.
Group CEO Daniel Zhang was careful to avoid discussing the company’s regulatory issues, Jack Ma and the delayed Ant Group IPO.
It is going to be another difficult year all across Asia. Thailand’s tourism chief will consider 2021 a success if the country attracts five million tourists. In 2019, nearly 40 million holidaymakers visited the Kingdom.
Singapore recorded just 2.74 million visitors in 2020. That is down 86% compared to the previous year. Notably, the majority of those visitors arrived in January and February 2020. In addition, Singapore has suspended reciprocal green lane arrangements with Malaysia, South Korea and Germany for at least three months.
Share price movement
Read MoreHong Kong, 26th January: Hong Kong-listed Pico Far East Holdings reported its annual results for the year ended 31st October 2020. The company posted revenues of US$443 million, down 31% year-on-year. In addition, the company’s net profit dropped 79% during the year, down to US$7.2 million. Diluted earnings per share for the year were HK$0.0408 (US$0.0053).
Read MoreMelbourne, 25th January: Talk2Media & Events, organiser of the Asia Pacific Incentive and Meeting Event (AIME), announced the cancellation of the event due to the on-going global COVID-19 pandemic.
Read MoreParis, 26th January: Earlier this week, UFI, The Global Association of the Exhibition Industry, released its latest Global Barometer research. According to the research, the impact of COVID-19 in 2020 has been (unsurprisingly) severe; however, there are positive signs regarding a potentially quick recovery in 2021.
Read MoreShanghai, 21st January: CPhI & P-MEC China concluded last month, attracting a total of more than 46,000 visits of professional pharma trade buyers, including 5,105 international attendees taking part online.
Read MoreThis is a decent summary of where we stand on so-called vaccine passports. It is a crucial issue because if vaccination does not lead to quarantine-free travel, a great many industries and economies will be in even more serious trouble.
Not all M&A activity has come to a complete halt. Tarsus Group has acquired a majority stake in Expo Tendero – a Mexican event launched in 2019. The event is focused on the tenderos niche – corner grocery shops common throughout Mexico.
Hybrid and virtual events continue to attract attention and investment. Luke Bilton makes the move from Informa Markets, where he was VP for digital, to ExpoPlatform, a SaaS-based event platform used to create and manage online events.
A short article on the expected valuation of Ant Financial. Bloomberg suggests that the valuation could fall from the original US$250 billion to US$108 billion when the IPO eventually goes ahead. In addition, two articles on Jack Ma’s reappearance and his on-going political predicament.
Share price movement
Read MoreLondon, 18th January: International exhibition organiser, Informa Markets, has announced the appointment of Michael Duck as the company’s Executive Vice President – Commercial Development, effective 4th January 2021.
Read MoreHong Kong, 20th January: The Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC) closed its 19th Hong Kong International Licensing Show (HKILS) last week. The online show featured over 250 exhibitors from around the globe, drawing more than 6,200 buyers from 47 countries and regions. During the show, about 1,200 online business matching meetings were arranged to connect global licensing players with new business opportunities.
Read MoreMalaysia, 19th January: The Malaysian prime minister, Muhyiddin Yassin, recently released the country’s latest stimulus package (known as PERMAI). The Malaysian business events industry expressed disappointment with the new programme.
Read MoreParis, 19th January: Earlier this week, UFI, the Global Association of the Exhibition Industry, released its first Industry Partners Benchmark Survey, examining the relationships between industry partners and suppliers, and exhibition organisers and venues.
Read MoreObviously, this is not a surprise, but it is a stark reminder of how hard travel and tourism in Asia has been hit by COVID-19. With borders essentially closed in 2020, arrivals to Hong Kong fell from 55.9 million to 3.57 million – and most of those arrivals occurred in January 2020 before borders were closed.
A long look at the future of Las Vegas Sands. In short, it is all about Asia. LVS is considering selling its properties on the Vegas Strip, and Macau and Singapore are now the crown jewels as they account for 70% of the company’s annual revenues.
This sums up the outlook for events in Asia in the first half of 2021. Macau, which has recorded one (yes, just one!) COVID-19 case since May 2020, will not be the host of IAAPA’s annual event in 2021. Instead of Macau in June, IAAPA opted for Shanghai in August, which suggests that IAAPA thinks that even their Mainland Chinese delegates would not be able to easily enter Macau by June.
In Japan, the bidding process to license and develop integrated resorts (IRs) has completely gone off the rails. Now, the Thai government is signalling that it is open to the idea of developing IRs in an effort to undermine the endless number of illegal casinos that operate in the Kingdom.
International Air Transport Association (IATA) is pushing the European Union to agree to a common digital COVID-19 vaccination certificate that would enable those who are vaccinated to travel freely within Europe. Emirates will the first airline to trial the IATA digital passport.
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Read MoreSheldon Adelson, who made his first pile of cash in trade shows and then went on to build the world’s largest casino group, has died at age 87. Bloomberg has a good summary and obituary.
Duncan Clark, who wrote Alibaba: The House that Jack Ma Built, discusses how Jack really put his foot in it back in October and what President Xi might have in mind for Ma and Ant Financial.
Just 10% of Facebook’s revenues come from Asia. The company may have its sights set on the growth potential in Asia, but it won’t be easy.
A long, comprehensive article from The Japan Times on events in Japan. Audiences “can clap, but they cannot shout.” That’s a very Japanese restriction.
Yogesh Mudras, MD of Informa Markets India, offers his take on the outlook for events in India, the impact of COVID-19 and the restrictions in place allowing events to tentatively proceed.
Shenzhen, 21st December: The Tarsus Group closed the inaugural edition of its Labelexpo South China last month, featuring a total of 8,778 visitors.
Labelexpo South China was held from 8th to 10th December 2020 at Shenzhen World Exhibition & Convention Center. Some 130 exhibitors occupied 11,000 m2 at the venue, showcasing the latest label and package printing machinery, smart technology, materials and components.
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