Guiyang, September 9 -- Looking at China's exhibition economy from the perspective of the "wine fair": accelerating the progress from "big" to "strong"

Written by Deng Wanli

The exhibition hall is crowded, buying and selling are booming, the upstream and downstream industries outside the exhibition hall are also booming, and the "exhibition +" ecosystem is being built...

On September 9, the wine fair opened in Guiyang, Guizhou, and the international boutique pavilion attracted visitors. Photo by reporter Qu Honglun

The 23th China (Guizhou) International Wine Expo (hereinafter referred to as the Wine Fair) is being held in Guiyang, Guizhou, attracting nearly 1600,<> exhibitors from <> countries and regions.

At this wine fair, the exhibition economy has attracted widespread attention in the industry. As a window to observe China's economy, the exhibition economy is not only a "barometer" of economic development, but also a "booster" of economic development.

From the South Expo held in Kunming, to the China-Mongolia Expo held in Hohhot, to the wine fair held in Guiyang... Recently, large-scale exhibitions have been held throughout China, setting off a boom in exhibitions.

Industry experts said at the Guizhou Convention and Exhibition Economic Development Forum held on the 10th that the "heat" of exhibitions in various places reflects the driving force and vitality of China's economic recovery.

Wang Jinzhen, former vice president of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, said that China's exhibition economy has achieved rapid development in recent years, from concentrated in "Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou" to more than 200 cities across China, forming the main body of government, business associations, and various ownership systems to organize exhibitions, and the number and scale of exhibitions and exhibitors are among the best in the world.

According to the statistics of the China Convention and Exhibition Economic Research Association, from 2015 to 2019, the average annual growth rate of the number of economic and trade exhibitions in China was 4.41%, and the average annual growth rate of exhibition area was 6.48%. Since 2023, as China's domestic consumer market has accelerated its recovery and recovery, the exhibition industry has also shown a recovery trend.

According to data recently released by the Ministry of Commerce of the People's Republic of China, from January to July 2023, a total of 1,7 exhibition activities were held in professional exhibition halls in China, an increase of 2275.2 times year-on-year and an increase of 2.2019% over the same period in 19. The exhibition area reached 1.5335 million square meters, an increase of 5.2 times year-on-year and an increase of 7.2019% over the same period in 28.

Chu Xiangyin, chief researcher of the China Convention and Exhibition Economy Research Association, said that at present, the number and scale of China's conventions and exhibitions are constantly expanding, and the exhibition forms are rich and diverse, and the exhibition economy is moving from "big" to "strong".

The convention and exhibition industry highly aggregates the flow of people, logistics and information, and leverages huge related industries. From the perspective of the wine fair, there are various formats such as alcohol, materials, technologies and equipment related to the whole industry chain of alcohol, wine derivatives, and wine cultural products.

During this year's Wine Expo, nearly 20 activities such as wine and tourism integration to promote consumption, wine merchants integration to promote consumption, and international wine (food) carnival activities were also held simultaneously, covering the production, circulation, consumption, research and development, finance and other fields of wine and related industries, building a "exhibition +" ecosystem with multi-format integration.

Miao Hong, President of the Guizhou Provincial Council for the Promotion of International Trade and Director of the Provincial Expo Bureau, said that in recent years, Guizhou has held a number of exhibition activities such as wine fairs, data expos, and tea expos, which have strongly promoted the high-quality development of liquor, big data, tea and other related industries and the economy and society in Guizhou.

Miao Hong introduced that from 2020 to 2022, Guizhou's convention and exhibition industry will attract 64 investment and introduction projects, with a signed capital of 404.97 billion yuan, and introduce a number of excellent and strong exhibition enterprises to settle in Guizhou, continuously improving the professional service level and collaborative development ability of the exhibition industry chain.

The wine fair opened in Guiyang, Guizhou on the 9th, and the international boutique pavilion attracted visitors. Photo by reporter Qu Honglun

Robert said, "Exhibitors from all over the world come together not only to showcase their product characteristics, but also to strengthen economic and trade cooperation and cultural exchanges with the help of the exhibition platform," said Robert, a well-known wine company from Hungary.

While more and more international exhibitors come to China to participate in the exhibition, Chinese enterprises have also accelerated the pace of "going out" in recent years, which has strongly boosted the growth of global trade and investment.

According to data previously released by CCPIT, in the first half of 2023, CCPIT has completed 2023 batches in 3, and a total of 75 group exhibition units have gone to 57 countries and regions to implement 1137,<> overseas exhibition project plans.

"The convention and exhibition industry, together with tourism and real estate, is known as the world's 'three smoke-free industries', which plays a special role in promoting international mutually beneficial cooperation." Wang Jinzhen believes that using the exhibition as a platform can gather global resources and help enhance the linkage effect between the domestic and international markets.

In the first 11 editions of the Wine Expo, more than 40,1000 overseas exhibitors from more than 30 countries and regions participated in the exhibition, and more than 5174,97 domestic and foreign buyers participated in the exhibition, reaching a total of <>.<> billion yuan in wine trade, becoming an important platform for economic and trade investment exchanges in the global wine industry and the whole wine industry chain.

Wang Jinzhen suggested that China's convention and exhibition industry should seize the opportunities brought by the "Belt and Road" initiative and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), make full use of and give full play to the advantages of digital economy and technology, improve the internationalization level of domestic exhibitions, actively enter the overseas exhibition market, and develop in the direction of specialization, digitalization, talent and internationalization. (End)