Spooked by massive, modern convention centres emerging in neighbouring Guangzhou and Shenzhen, Hong Kong stakeholders have urged the government to quickly expand its existing exhibition and convention space.
Speaking at the Hong Kong Exhibition and Convention Industry Association’s annual conference last week, Adsale Exhibition Services’ chairman, Stanley Chu, stressed: “We do not favour the idea of a third venue in the city as this will not solve the problem of trade organisers that want to hold a large-scale event under one roof.
“Instead, the government should expand existing spaces such as the AsiaWorld-Expo and Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (HKCEC) in order to sustain growth. The city will lack about 132,000m2 of space during the high season in the coming 15 years, so if we don’t expand, somebody like Shenzhen, will do it for us.”
Chu cautioned that the rapid development in the Chinese cities of Shenzhen and Guangzhou will gradually erode Hong Kong’s role in the tradeshow business. For instance, the 500,000m2 Shenzhen World Exhibition and Convention Center – touted as the world’s biggest exhibition venue – will complete its first phase (400,000m2) in December 2018.
This sentiment is echoed by HKCEC (Management)’s managing director, Monica Lee-Müller, who hopes that existing venues can be expanded within the next two decades.
“The adding of infrastructure for exhibitions – to improve effectiveness and buyers’ experience – requires more government support and a clarity of vision. Visitors enjoy (Hong Kong’s) convenience, standard of facility and infrastructure, so we have to keep improving on this,” said Global Sources’ CEO, Craig Pepples.
According to HKECIA, 56 international event applications were turned down in 2013, due to a shortage of space. The combined total space of AsiaWorld-Expo and HKCEC currently stands at 136,000m2.
