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September
Hong Kong Jewellery and Watch Fair, Asia's largest and
most important international jewellery trade event, filled
the HKCEC with an amazing glitter of luxury watches, gems,
pearls and jewels. The fair marked the largest edition with
an increase of 18 percent of the total gross exhibition area
from 50,000m2 to 59,000m2 . With a focus
on fine and luxury end items, it saw a 6.7% growth to 1,852
in exhibitor number over 2002. Visitors too arrived in droves.
Total numbers were up by over 8% to 35,890 from 118 countries
and regions, while the numbers of Mainland visitors rose by
a staggering 45% over 2002, indicating that the trend of Mainland
businesses using Hong Kong as a selling and sourcing hub is
continuing. These figures show that Hong Kong is once again
fully established as a value-added exhibition destination
for global visitors and businesses. This year the organiser
CMP Asia put the emphasis on product  classification
when implementing the development plan which grouped exhibitors
who were dealing with the same type of products. The initiative
was warmly welcomed by exhibitors while many of them were
able to expand their stands by taking up the areas of those
relocated and hence resulted in substantial increase in exhibition
space and exhibitors. The thematic layout allowed visitors
to spend their time more effectively at the fair and make
buying decisions quickly and efficiently. In other words,
exhibitors had more chances of meeting targeted buyers under
the new arrangement.
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 After
an April exhibition affected by the SARS crisis, the Hong Kong
Trade Development Council pulled out all the stops to remount
the combined Hong Kong Houseware Fair and Hong Kong
Gifts and Premium Fair from 23-26 July. And the turnaround
was phenomenal, with the July version bringing back the crowds
in record numbers. The HKCEC set aside nearly 66,000m2
of exhibition space for this event, and every inch was needed
as over 62,000 visitors and 3,700 exhibitors passed through
the joint fair across its four days. With exhibitors coming
from 31 countries and regions worldwide, and buyers from 128,
the HKCEC was bathed in an international glow, and the crowds
gave evidence that Hong Kong had put the gloomy days of SARS
well behind it. In fact, buyer attendance was up by more than
10% over 2002's standalone Gifts and Premium Fair, as visitors
shrugged off SARS and instead chose to focus on all the positives
of a major Hong Kong exhibition. As buyer Vivienne Ellis of
Gift & Housewares Australia said, "I've been to fairs all over
the world but Hong Kong is the one I keep coming back to." In
addition to the usual wealth of sourcing opportunities that
the Fair brought with it, organiser added several practical
seminars to the programme, bringing visitors up to date with
topics like export credit insurance and methods of handling
arbitration in China. |
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The huge
attraction of the Asian region for tourism was shown in 2002
when Asia overtook America as the world's second most visited
tourist region. But a series of global events then proceeded
to dent international travel, and the impact of SARS was a
further blow to the tourist industry across Asia. The conference
Revitalizing Asian Tourism was a response to these
events, jointly organised by the Boao Forum for Asia and the
World Tourism Organisation. Held at the HKCEC from 14-15 July,
the conference was specifically designed to help restore confidence
in the Asian tourism industry. It brought together not only
commercial industry leaders, but also politicians and policymakers
from countries throughout the Asia Pacific region, and as
a result the conference provided a unique forum for inter-governmental
co-operation in re-establishing Asia's tourist reputation.
Around 30 high-level national delegations attended, along
with some 800 delegates from international tourist organisations,
the tourist trade, and academic institutions, bringing numbers
in attendance to above the 1,000 mark. The result was an event
that reasserted the fundamental value and safety of Asia as
a tourist destination, while fostering a heightened sense
of collaboration between all parties involved in the Asian
tourism industry.
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