Global Update: CONEXPO Asia Expanding

Staff -- Tradeshow Week, 1/22/2007

With the New Year, there's more international exhibition news than ever to report. Following is a roundup from the four corners of the globe:

• After nearly a decade at the Carrousel du Louvre, Bedouk Exhibition MC&IT is moving to another Paris Expo venue, the newer, bigger Paris Expo Porte de Versailles Hall 5. The exhibition for international meeting and trade fair planners, scheduled Jan. 24–25, will occupy more than 12,000 square meters (129,000 square feet) of exhibit space.
  Organizers made the move to accommodate the show's growth. The new hall is on a new public transportation line covering the south of Paris, which increases access for show participants. Delegations from the U.S., Canada, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Russia, Brazil, Mexico, Spain, Great Britain, Belgium, Luxemburg, Italy, Greece, Asia, Scandinavia and the Netherlands are expected.
• Florence, Italy-based exhibition organizer Pitti Immagine will no longer manage avant-garde fashion exhibition White Milano, which was scheduled Feb. 22–25 at Milan's Superstudio Piu. Pitti Immagine, licensee of the White brand and organizer of the last three editions of the show, said it had differences with Massimiliano Bizzi, co-owner of the brand with Efima. Pitti Immagine said it decided to discontinue the relationship because of divergent ideas about the prospects and possibilities of White and certain sub-sectors of the show. Massimiliano Bizzi said the show would still be held as scheduled, but has not named a new organizer.
• Reed Exhibitions acquired three exhibitions from, and signed a long-term agreement with, Abu Dhabi Natl. Exhibitions to organize events from 2007 onwards in the Abu Dhabi Natl. Exhibition Center halls currently under construction in the capital of the United Arab Emirates. Reed will own and organize IDEX, the Environment Exhibition and the Security Show. The company already said it would launch Gulf Incentive Business Travel Market, a new meetings industry show to take place at the ADNEC in March.
  The new agreement increases Reed's presence in the Emirates, adding to its Arabian Travel Market in Dubai. The company now has offices in both Dubai and Abu Dhabi, and Frederic Theux was named president of Reed Exhibitions Middle East.
• TTG Asia Media's first IT&CM China show will focus on international and Chinese players in the MICE (meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions) industry. A spinoff of the 14-year-old Asian version of the show, IT&CM China will debut at INTEX Shanghai April 23–25, and is expected to attract 300 exhibitors.
  TTG said China's MICE industry has experienced dramatic growth. With the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, and World Expo 2010 and other events taking place in China, TTG expects the country's travel and tourism industry to make even bigger gains.
• Vietnam Posts & Telecommunications Group and Adsale Exhibition Services are producing Vietnam Comm 2007, a summit and exhibition for the telecommunications and wireless businesses, at the Hanoi Vietnam Exhibition and Fair Centre, Sept. 19–22. The show is an extension of last September's Vietnam Telecomp in Ho Chi Minh City, where it reportedly spanned 6,000 square meters (64,500 square feet) of exhibit space and attracted 182 exhibitors and 18,208 trade visitors from Vietnam and Asia.
• The Assn. of Equipment Manufacturers is planning new and expanded features for its construction exhibition CONEXPO Asia 2007, including activities for the off-road equipment marketplace. Launched last May in Beijing, CONEXPO Asia this year will take place Dec. 4–7 at the 3-year-old Chinese Export Commodities Fair Pazhou Complex in Guangzhou, China.
  AEM said it chose Guangzhou, in South China near Hong Kong, as part of its aim to bring CONEXPO Asia educational opportunities to different areas of the country. The city has long been a center for international trade and is the site of the Canton Fair.
• Messe Frankfurt will close its Sao Paulo subsidiary at the end of 2007. The company said the growth outlook is fundamentally positive in the Americas, particularly Brazil, but difficulties arose in the city because of strong segmentation of the competition and an insufficiently developed infrastructure.
  Messe Frankfurt said it would remain active in the Brazilian market and is examining alternatives such as partnerships, with more direct Brazilian presence possible in the future. The firm operates its own subsidiaries in the United States, Mexico, and Argentina, and organizes more than 20 trade fairs in the Americas with approximately $25.8 million in sales.