VNU Working to Keep It Real in Asia

Staff -- Tradeshow Week, 4/4/2005

VNU Expositions' Hospitality Design group is finding that launching a show in China, and keeping it true to its American roots, requires some effort.

VNU expects 100 to 120 exhibitors to fill 20,000 net square feet and pull 1,000 buyers to Hospitality Design Asia in Hong Kong, June 23–24. Organizers want the Chinese show to be geared toward the high-end designers that are leading the development of Asia's luxury hotel boom.

Lee Arevian, HD group show director for VNU, said that he and Michelle Finn, HD vice president, have made several trips to China.

Arevian noted, "We've been clear that we want to get a certain level of designer. We don't want people selling plastic chairs. It's not meant to be a cheap sourcing show."

To accomplish this, the show has instituted strict application criteria for would-be exhibitors.