Successful Debut of Hotelex Chengdu: UBM Making Headway in its Expansion into 2nd and 3rd Tier Cities in China

HONG KONG, Sept. 3, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Organised by Shanghai UBM Sinoexpo International Exhibition Co., Ltd., (UBM Sinoexpo), one of UBM Asia's joint venture companies in China, and supported by China Tourist Hotels Association, the first Hotelex Chengdu and China Clean (Chengdu) Expo held from 8-10 August in Chengdu Century City International Convention and Exhibition Centre welcomed over 200 exhibiting companies and 6,193 visitors.

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140903/142358
Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140903/142359
Logo - http://www.prnasia.com/sa/2010/04/19/20100419602891.jpg

Though in its debut, the fairs spread over 20,000 square metres of exhibition area, housing top suppliers of restaurant, hotel and cleaning equipment and supplies, and attracting professional visitors from a diverse range of sectors including hotel, catering, coffee, ice cream, bakery, bar, supermarket and retail enterprises. Hotelex Chengdu will expand to 30,000 square metres in 2015 with the addition of Hospitality Design and Deco, and contract furniture.

Hotelex Chengdu marks the first geo-adapt of UBM's Hotelex event in Shanghai which celebrated its 23rd anniversary last April with 81,596 professional visitors from over 132 countries, and 1,600 exhibitors across 14 halls at the Shanghai New International Expo Centre.

The hotel, restaurant and catering (hospitality) sector in southwest China has grown exponentially in recent years and HOTELEX Chengdu aims to establish a one-stop sourcing platform for the hospitality industry in this region. Chengdu, as the region's commercial, financial and political centre, has witnessed a staggering increase in five-star hotels and is earmarked by international hotel management groups such as Ritz Carlton, Hyatt, Four Seasons, Hilton, the Mandarin Oriental, Waldorf, W Hotel and Starwood for growth and expansion. It has also grown into the biggest food import centre in southwest China, attracting the first U.S. Food Export Trade Mission to explore the second-tier cities in China with a visit to HOTELEX Chengdu.

Jimé Essink, President & CEO of UBM Asia, said, "It is great to see the remarkable results of Hotelex and Clean China in Chengdu and we celebrate this success with the Chengdu Municipal Government and Chengdu Exposition Bureau. We signed a Strategic Cooperation MOU with the Bureau earlier this year to strengthen full-fledged cooperation on exhibition businesses, including the launch of international exhibition projects in Chengdu. The launch of new events in second tier cities fits perfectly in our China strategy. China is a huge country with strong demand from various regional markets. Over decades of dedicated work in developing our China events into the leading ones of their kind in the world, we have established close relationship with our customers as well as strong connection with associations and global buyers. We know the markets and countries that they are interested in and they entrust UBM to create business opportunities for them with our professional management."

Another event that UBM is taking to Chengdu is the 22nd World Route Development Forum (World Routes 2016) which is expected to attract more than 3,500 delegates including 350 airlines, 1,000 airports and 300 tourism authorities from more than 125 countries. It will be held in the International Convention & Exhibition Centre at Chengdu Century City from 25-27 September 2016.

Talking about supporting the development of exhibitions in tier-2 and tier-3 cities, Mr. Jime Essink said, "We are very excited about bringing our network and expertise to these cities. Last September, UBM Sinoexpo signed a cooperation agreement with the Guzhen Town Government of Zhongshan City, Guangdong Province to manage the China (Guzhen) International Lighting Fair that was launched in 1999. Guzhen is the world's largest lighting market and Guzhen Town Government expect that the Guzhen Lighting Fair will become the world's largest and most influential trade exhibition. This partnership is also very successful. With two months to go, the 14th China (Guzhen) International Lighting Fair to be held in end October this year is sold out and will be expanded to 600,000 square metres with 1,000 exhibitors."

Guzhen Lighting Fair is held at five venues: the Guzhen Convention and Exhibition Centre and four lighting trade malls. It is a new model of trade fairs combining permanent fair ground and trade malls. It is unique because Guzhen, two hours from Hong Kong by road is the world capital of lighting industry, both for manufacturing and distribution. In 2013, the total turnover of lighting in Guzhen is RMB 100 billion.

With the full support of trade associations and local government, UBM's push to second tier cities also includes China Shenyang International Furniture Expo held last month with 500 exhibitors and 10,0000 visitors over 120,000 square metres of exhibition space in Shenyang, the capital and largest city of Liaoning Province, as well as the largest city in Northeast China by urban population, and China (Zhuhai) International Boat Show to be held from 14-17 November, 2014 in Zhuhai City, Guangdong Province.

For press enquiries, please contact:

Jennifer Law, Director of Corporate Marketing & Communications
UBM Asia
Tel: +852 2516 1691
Fax: +852 3749 7342
Email: Jennifer.Law@ubm.com

Christy Chan, Corporate Marketing & Communications Executive
UBM Asia
Tel: +852 2516 1679
Fax: +852 3749 7342
Email: Christy.Chan@ubm.com

Notes to Editors

1. About UBM Asia (http://www.ubmasia.com/)

Owned by UBM plc listed on the London Stock Exchange, UBM Asia is Asia's leading exhibition organiser and the biggest commercial organiser in mainland China, India and Malaysia. Established with its headquarters in Hong Kong and subsidiary companies across Asia and in the U.S., UBM Asia has a strong global presence in 24 major cities with 30 offices and 1,300 staff.

With a track record spanning over 30 years, UBM Asia operates in 20 market sectors with 230 dynamic face-to-face exhibitions and high-level professional conferences, 23 targeted trade publications, 20 round-the-clock online products for over 1,000,000 quality exhibitors, visitors, conference delegates, advertisers and subscribers from all over the world. We provide a one-stop diversified global service for high-value business matching, quality market news and online trading networks.

UBM Asia has extensive office networks in China, Southeast Asia and India, three of the world's fastest growing B2B events markets. UBM China has 11 offices in the major cities in mainland China, including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Guzhen and Shenzhen, where we organise 90 exhibitions and conferences. In ASEAN, UBM Asia operates from its offices in Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore, Vietnam and the Philippines with over 40 events in this region. UBM India teams in Mumbai, New Delhi, Bengaluru and Chennai organise 40 exhibitions and conferences every year across the country.

2.   About UBM plc (www.ubm.com)

UBM plc is a global events-led marketing services and communications company. We help businesses do business, bringing the world's buyers and sellers together at events and online, as well as producing and distributing news and specialist content. Our 5,000 staff in more than 30 countries are organised into expert teams which serve commercial and professional communities, helping them to do business and their markets to work effectively and efficiently.

For more information, go to www.ubm.com; follow us on Twitter at @UBM_plc to get the latest UBM corporate news; follow @UBM for news and updates from across the businesses and selected members of UBM's Twitter.