China


The meetings industry in China appears to be in an upward cycle, despite the slowing pace of expansion of the Chinese economy as a whole. For the first time this century, in 2012 China’s growth rate may dip below 8 percent, but the inbound, outbound and domestic meetings markets continue to grow, with increasing budgets and the use of a wider range of destinations.


The meetings market conditions experienced by Chinese buyers for the last twelve months and those forecast for the next twelve months are shown in the tables below, reproduced from the IBTM Meetings Industry Research for China & Asia. Clearly the meetings market continues to grow rapidly in China. Nearly two thirds of buyers saw an increase in the volume of events they were involved in over the last twelve months and a very similar percentage forecast increased volume for the next twelve months. 60 percent also saw increased budgets. However the percentage of those predicting budget increases for the next twelve months falls to 49 percent. As the development of regions and cities throughout China continues, so does the percentage predicting use of new destinations for meetings, with 72 percent forecasting use of new destinations in the next 12 months.


Buyers reported Change


Increase Same


Decrease


Buyers reported Change Increase


Same Decrease


Buyers forecasts for the NEXT 12 months


Increase Same


Decrease IBTM Meetings Industry Research for China & Asia


Meanwhile, several of China’s neighbours are taking steps to target outbound conference and incentive travel business from that country. For example, this year the Malaysia Convention & Exhibition Bureau introduced a new brochure targeting


Reed Exhibitions | EIBTM Trends Watch Report 2012 17


Volume of events LAST 12 months


63% 25% 12%


Budget LAST 12 months 60%


23% 17%


Marketing budget


48% 31% 21%


Volume of events NEXT 12 months


62% 25% 13%


Budget NEXT 12 months 49%


31% 20%


Use of NEW destinations


72% 22% 5%


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