Interview with Jeffrey Xu, CIBTM Exhibition Manager

What is the current situation of the meetings market in Asia: is it following the general economic euphoria of the continent?

There is no doubt that it is an exciting time for the meetings industry in China. Despite a challenging worldwide economic environment, the meetings, incentive, conferences and events industry is rapidly expanding in China and Asia, where government and private sector investment is transforming destinations on the back of the 2008 Olympic legacy and the 2010 World Expo.

With availability of inexpensive hotel stock, attractive airfares and a vastly improved infrastructure it is easy to see whey the competition for meetings has never been greater. As an increasing number of planners and buyers are realising its potential, China is growing into a choice of destination rivalling more established destinations.

Additionally, given the predicted increase in outbound meetings from China, there is significant interest from international destinations.

As an example, in Beijing, since 2007 the number of venues has reached over 4,000 with ten exhibition halls and 134,000 hotel rooms. Beijing now attracts around 2,000 domestic and international meetings annually of which 140 large ones.

The creation of local event / meeting agencies seems to be rather recent in China, is it so?

There has been a growth of companies in China