Asean trade exhibition industry seen growing 10% a year
Asean's trade exhibition industry is expected to grow at an annual pace of 10 per cent over the next three to four years, growing at a faster rate compared with 8 per cent for the rest of Asia with the implementation of the Asean Economic Community (AEC)
But Asia’s biggest exhibition organiser UBM Asia Ltd cautioned that Malaysia is losing out to neighbouring host countries in attracting big international events due to the lack of sufficient exhibition floor space.
“UBM Asia positions our fairs as regional fairs to attract overseas visitors and buyers as the entire Asean market is larger than the Indian market. The AEC will also see an increase in inter-Asean trade as barriers between the countries would be lowered,” its president and chief executive officer Jime Essink told reporters in a recent interview.
He said the lack of space limited the potential growth of Malaysia’s exhibition industry, pointing out that the country’s total exhibition space was around 90,000 sq m.
Comparatively, he said that Thailand’s biggest exhibition venue in Bangkok had 150,000 sq m of space on one floor, while a new venue in Jakarta was being completed with potential capacity of 80,000 sq m.
“Travelling international shows have to look at all conditions before making a venue selection. Sometimes, you will find that there is insufficient venue space or availability of slots in Malaysia. It’s a pity because international exhibition really stimulates trade,” he said.
Malaysia hosts about 15 international fairs yearly.
Essink noted that the upcoming new Matrade venue, the Malaysia International Trade and Exhibition Centre (MITEC), was a positive development that is expected to add on a further 45,000 sq m of venue space for the country.
“I hope it will not stop with the new venue. Ideally, we would need 150,000 sq m in a single venue to keep visitors coming over the next few years,” he said.
Currently, Essink said that the biggest trade show in Malaysia was the annual Malaysian International Furniture Fair (MIFF), which took up 80,000 sq m over two venues, the Matrade Exhibition and Convention Centre (7,000 sq m) as well as the Putra World Trade Centre (30,000 sq m).
He said that they had managed to expand the space for MIFF due to the additional 43,000 sq m of space worth of tents which had been set up for the exhibitors.
“We will not bring MIFF to another country. But the danger is that the fair cannot grow while similar fairs in other countries in the region could. This means Malaysian companies could miss out on opportunities to trade with buyers who can only choose one fair to attend,” he said.
He added that he saw strong growth potential in Malaysia for the water, energy and security sectors in addition to UBM’s plans to strengthen the furniture sector by drawing more international visitors.
According to the Global Exhibition Industry Association, the global exhibition industry was valued at US$23 billion in 2013, while Asean (base of six: Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam) was valued at $600 million.
