Weekly Newsletter
Bangkok, 18th March: E.J. Krause & Associates (EJK), an international exhibition and conference management company, and VNU Asia Pacific, part of international event organiser VNU Group, have agreed to come together to launch a new exhibition and conference, BYOND MOBILE.
Read MoreHo Chi Minh City, 22nd March: Informa Markets Vietnam will simultaneously host Vietbeauty and Cosmobeauté Vietnam later this year, featuring both a physical and online format. Running from 21st to 23rd December 2021, the physical event will be held at Saigon Exhibition Convention Center (SECC).
Read MoreIndia, will be held from 9th to 11th December 2021. The inaugural edition of the event in India will include both wine and spirits, and the organiser is expecting some 50 wine producers – with 20 to 30 from overseas. The exhibition will run alongside a programme of masterclasses and tasting sessions.
According to media reports, India is one of the world’s biggest markets for spirits, and its wine drinking population continues to grow. According to a report released by Wine Intelligence in 2018, the Indian wine industry recorded a CAGR of over 14% between 2010 and 2017. Another researcher, Research & Markets, released its Indian Wine Market Outlook report in 2018, observing that the Indian wine market had a CAGR of more than 25% from 2011 to 2018.
Nanjing, 20th March: Shenzhen-listed Focus Technology, owner and operator of Made-in-China.com, reported its financial results for the year ended 31st December 2020. Revenues during the year were US$173 million, representing an increase of 16% compared with the previous year. The company posted a year-on-year increase of 15% in net income, amounting to US$27 million. Earnings per share in 2020 were RMB 0.57 (US$0.087).
Read MoreBeijing, 23rd March: Earlier this week, CCID Consulting, a research and information service provider in China, announced its financial results for the year 2020. Revenues dropped 19% year-on-year, down to US$32 million. The company posted a profit of US$4.1 million in 2020, down 61% from the figure in 2019.
Read MoreUFI and SISO have released a case study on three independent event organisers coming together in Orlando, Florida to co-locate three fashion events. Informa Markets, Clarion Events and Tarsus Group made it happen. Well done and thanks to UFI and SISO for publishing this important study.
According to a report in The Straits Times, Taiwan and Singapore have been in talks to match Singapore’s unilateral lifting of border restrictions on travellers from Taiwan in December. Let’s see how China reacts to this development…
WeCosmoprof International is a new digital event under the Cosmoprof brand umbrella. Informa Markets, along with the BolognaFiere Group, will organise the event in June this year. WeCosmoprof is built on technology from the Alibaba Group.
The pain in the industry in Asia continues. Reed Exhibitions has been forced to push back the inaugural edition of IBTM Asia Pacific yet again. The original dates were 6-8 April 2020, then moved to 13-14 April 2021. And now, the new dates are 5-6 April 2022.
In Asia, we are really still a very long way from recovery, let alone “normal.” Japan has asked all airlines to further limit international arrivals, as the country’s quarantine facility capacity is running low. ANA and JAL are now subject to a weekly cap of 3,400 arrivals, a decrease of 84%. The Olympics are really a pipedream at this point.
Really not sure what to think about this article. “Chiang Mai is drafting plans to reopen its borders to travellers from India and South-east Asia beginning 1st April.” If they are only at the drafting stage, they better draft quickly. 1st April is next Thursday. “Tourism stakeholders in the province have their sights set on India as a sizeable part of the population have been vaccinated.” Actually, only 2% of Indians have had even a single dose. And then there is this little gem: “Next month, 5,000 to 10,000 delegates are expected to attend World Cannabis Day, scheduled to take place in Chiang Mai from April 16-18. More locals will be flocking there too to celebrate Songkran festival.” Tens of thousands in Chiang Mai for Songkran AND World Cannabis Day. What could possibly go wrong?
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Read MoreLet’s hope we see a lot more of this. Iceland will open its borders to all visitors who have been vaccinated “without mandatory testing or quarantine.” This type of common-sense policy is needed to get so many economies back on track.
In somewhat less positive vaccine news, China is willing to issue a few more visas and allow in foreigners – provided they have received a vaccine made in China (i.e. Sinovac). The politics of vaccines looks set to heat up in the coming months. An the 14-day quarantine rules still nonsensically apply to foreign visitors.
The Wall Street Journal looks at the US$11 billion trade fair industry and its path to recovery as vaccinations continue to roll out more rapidly each day. (Subscription) It also features a video report on digital passports.
It is a wonder that Cathay Pacific has managed to survive this long with passenger numbers down 87% year-on-year. The airline recorded a net loss of US$2.8 billion in 2020, compared to a net profit of US$217.8 million in 2019.
Bangkok, 12th March: Last week, the Thai-listed subsidiary of Pico Far East Holdings, Pico Thailand, released its results for the quarter ended 31st January 2021. Revenues in the quarter were US$6.4 million, representing a year-on-year decrease of 39%. However, the company reduced its loss to US$53,000 in the quarter, down from US$271,000 in the same quarter last year.
Read MoreBeijing, 17th March: The NASDAQ-listed Baidu, the leading search provider in China, has announced the pricing of its secondary listing planned in Hong Kong. The company plans to raise US$3.1 billion from the listing. The global offering of 95,000,000 new Class A ordinary shares features an international offering and a Hong Kong public offering.
Read MoreLondon, 11th March: Tarsus Group, a global B2B events and media group, has appointed Dan O’Brien as Chief Operating Officer, and Mark Pennington as Chief Financial Officer, effective from 31st March 2021.
Read MoreChina, 16th March: The Alibaba Group, China’s largest e-commerce company, has been ordered to sell its media assets, including The South China Morning Post (SCMP). This appears to be more fallout from an incident that occurred late last year when Jack Ma criticised China’s regulators and infuriated China’s president, Xi Jinping.
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Read MoreChina, 4th March: GL events Group and Nexus Point Capital, a China-focused private equity fund, announced that the companies have closed a strategic investment and partnership agreement, collectively investing RMB 2 billion (US$307 million) of capital in GL events Group’s China operating company, GL events China.
Read MoreBinh Duong, Vietnam, 9th March: Korean International Trade Association (KITA) and the Korean Convention and Exhibition Centre (COEX) have signed a contract with Vietnam’s Becamex IDC to operate the World Trade Centre Binh Duong New City Expo in Vietnam’s southern province of Binh Duong. BSG notes that although it is referred to as an exhibition centre, it is essentially a convention centre.
Read MoreHong Kong, 8th March: Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (Management) Limited (HML), the management company of the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (HKCEC), have announced the launch of a brand-new facility, Harbour Studio, at HKCEC. The studio will facilitate online and virtual events.
Read MoreMelbourne, 10th March: The Melbourne Convention Exhibition Centre (MCEC) has essentially been close since COVID-19 restrictions came into effect in early 2020. The venue, however, is now cleared to return to hosting physical exhibitions. The first will be the Gift & Lifestyle Fair running from 20th to 22nd March.
Read MoreWe need this to work and we need something similar to be put in place globally. The Chinese Government is testing digital passports which can be downloaded via WeChat.
And more initiatives like this are needed! Singapore Airlines will become the first airline to trial the IATA Travel Pass app beginning next week. The digital health verification app has been under development since last year. SIA will conduct a two-week trial of the app between March 15-28 for passengers travelling from Singapore to London.
This is an interesting initiative. A group of event organisers in Hangzhou, including EastBest (also known as Shanghai Donghao Lansheng), have formed a new company to promote Hangzhou as a destination for business events.
This article seems a bit optimistic given the restrictions currently in place in Singapore, and it is assumed that these are essentially domestic events given that the city-state’s borders are edging slowly towards a very tentative opening.
This annual observance is a platform to promote the value created by physical exhibitions. This year, the message will likely be focused on the importance of exhibitions in jump-starting economic activity after the pandemic.
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Read MoreLas Vegas, 3rd March: This week, the Las Vegas Sands Corp. announced plans to sell The Venetian, its flagship Strip resort, and the rest of its Las Vegas properties. The properties will be sold to private equity group Apollo Global Management Inc. and real estate investor Vici Properties Inc. for US$6.25 billion.
Read MoreBusiness Strategies Group is the only market intelligence & strategy consulting firm in Asia with a special focus on business media, information and events. Our services include research, market intelligence, mergers and acquisition support and strategy development.
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