Macau Unique in Asian Landscape
Heidi Genoist -- Tradeshow Week, 3/13/2008 11:55:00 AM
Asia’s Las Vegas. The hottest destination in China. The next major international tradeshow market. This is how Las Vegas’ big names in casino-resort development described Macau when they were launching their projects three to five years ago.Now that most of these projects are open for business, has all that turned out to be true?
“As Asia’s Las Vegas, Macau has its unique attraction of bringing business and entertainment together in one location,” said Jime Essink, CEO of CMP Asia. “Our exhibitors and visitors at the Macau Jewellery & Watch Fair told us that they were happy with this.”
According to Essink, the launch filled 8,500 net square meters (91,493 square feet) and attracted 517 exhibiting companies from 24 countries, and 6,617 professional attendees from 59 countries. Roughly half of the attendees were from outside Macau and Hong Kong, he added.
The show took place in January at the Cotai Strip Convention & Exhibition Center at the Venetian Macao, which opened in August with 1.18 million sq. ft. of exhibit space and nearly 124,000 sq. ft. of meeting space, positioning the city as a major convention player.
There are several reasons why Macau is an attractive destination to international participants, said Michael Dreyer, managing director of Koelnmesse. Like CMP, the Cologne, Germany-based company launched a show, Wine & Gourmet Asia, at the Venetian Macao. And like Essink, Dreyer reported that the show was an international success, with more than half of its visitors from outside Macau.
Besides being an entertainment-based destination, Macau gets its global appeal from its location, organizers said.
Essink noted that the special administrative region of China is situated in the Pearl River Delta, “the economic powerhouse of China that attracts 25 percent of China’s exports.” Macau is only about 38 miles from Hong Kong, and not too far from Guangzhou, Shenzhen and other large manufacturing hubs.
“Macau, being very small itself, has always been a trading place for the trade between continents, bringing together parties from the entire greater China,” Dreyer added.
But these two features, entertainment and location, can be drawbacks as well as advantages.
All the organizers interviewed for this article conceded that the small-town nature of Macau – while adding a quaint, relaxed aspect to the destination – poses a problem with staffing.
“The lack of enough experienced manpower is the key factor” detracting from Macau’s promise, Essink said.
Grace Mak, regional director for E.J. Krause & Associates, added that she had even heard stories of organizers having to send their entire crews to produce events, because of the lack of trained workers on site.
While Macau enjoys the status of a duty-free port (according to Essink) and visa-free travel zone (according to Michael McCarty, the Venetian Macao’s director of tradeshow sales), sources also agreed that some infrastructure issues would have to be addressed, such as the need for more frequent and direct connections with key spots on the Chinese mainland.
Another potential problem for some is the entertainment that defines Macau: gambling. According to Mak, Macau has become “No. 1 in the world for gambling in terms of volume.” Gambling is “very much practiced” by the Chinese, she added, and venue operators could “use this attraction for double purposes of casino visits and tradeshow visits.”
Yet she also pointed out, “A few months ago, the Chinese government announced rules and regulations to restrict mainland Chinese visitors, particularly those on official status, from gambling in Macau. A good number of Chinese officials got into trouble when they lost huge amounts of money in their gambles in Macau.”
Even McCarty admitted that, as with Las Vegas, Macau’s reputation as a party town would turn away more sober planners. “Both cities will get a few complaints,” he said, but “most people love it.”
McCarty was reluctant to pin down demographics of the 40 events he and his team booked in the first year, describing them as “all types, all industries.” He cited organizing groups from Germany (such as Koelnmesse), China (Kenfair), the United Kingdom (Reed Exhibitions) and the United States (Intl. Assn. of Amusement Parks & Attractions) among those he’s booked.
Other sources were more precise. “It is more likely to suit events which do not depend on the presence of a major market,” said Graeme Selby, chairman of Diversified Exhibitions Australia. “Conferences, congresses and conventions which rely heavily on the quality of the venue facility, hotel facilities and the associated attractions of the location will find Macau an effective destination.”
Mak added, “I think Macau has a good chance to turn into an international convention destination in the future, both for event organizers and for individual corporate functions. As for exhibitions, it will be limited to consumer events, and smaller and lighter events.” TSW
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