Rising in the East
With global excitement, eclectic venues and government support, China is emerging as a force in the meeting and event industry’s future.
By David R. Basler
Television coverage of the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing introduced modern China to the world, but a decade before the torch was even lit at the opening ceremony, the country’s vision for what could be extended far beyond the Olympics.
The games were just the showpiece that proved on the world stage China’s ability to plan and host such an event, according to Liu Yan Xiang, president of China Star, one of China’s largest DMCs, with offices in Beijing and Shanghai.
“The Olympics is the largest event in the world, and Beijing successfully hosting such an event convinces the world that Beijing and China can successfully host events of any scale,” Liu Yan Xiang said.
This enhanced the awareness and image of the country in the eyes of the global meeting and event industry—and that’s exactly what China had planned.
The plan for the Olympics began with a vision of what China’s image would be after the games had closed and everyone had gone home. It’s an issue most host cities wrangle with, but for which few successfully plan. The proof of China’s success as an emerging market in the meeting and event industry centers around this initial vision.
“Most, if not all, of the venues built in preparation for the Olympic Games were destined to be something all together different after the games,” said Rob Davidson, senior lecturer for the University of Westminster’s business travel and meeting industry programs. “The Chinese government knew what the Olympics meant for its country and knew it would have to do something with all these new arenas and venues and hotels. They weren’t blind to the massive demand from other countries to visit China that would happen following the games.”
The China National Convention Centre, for example, quickly scheduled 173 events following the games, and other recognizable venues, such as the Water Cube and the Bird’s Nest (currently used for many public activities) are also available for private meetings and events.
It’s all about the image, though, and China possesses a certain mystique. It is an ancient land that most of the world’s population has only read about in books or seen on the news prior to Olympic Games coverage—few have actually visited.
“We’re curious. It may not be a top spot on a lot of vacation lists yet, but if given a chance to attend a four- or five-day meeting or event there, people are grabbing the chance to see what China has to offer. It’s making China quite an emerging meeting and event destination for corporations and associations around the world,” Davidson said.
But once the next Olympic Games broadcast later this month from Vancouver, some of that mystique could wear off, Davidson warns. The Chinese government planned well for that, spending millions on improving the Chinese economy and educating its professionals on the importance of the meeting and event industry.
“The Chinese government invested a huge amount of money in infrastructure construction—such as railways, highways, power plants, etc.—at the beginning of 2009 to enhance the domestic demand and eventually develop the economy in the economic downturn,” Liu Yan Xiang said. “That development has provided a huge growth for domestic meetings and events in China in 2009. While international meetings are still very much a goal for China, that market has not developed as quickly. The games changed China’s perspective on the importance of meetings and events to our future success, but we are still learning from the rest of the world.”
Learning to be a Leader
China has the third-most powerful economy in the world, the largest population of any country (boasting more than 100 cities within its borders with a population of 1 million or more), a massive infrastructure created by playing host to the Olympic Games and has acted as the world’s banker through the global recession. And in the short amount of time since the games and with focus on the importance of meetings and events by the government, the Chinese have increased their number of domestic meetings exponentially. However, as Liu Yan Xiang stated, China is still very much in the infancy stage in the international meeting and event industry and the country is listening, watching and learning from the rest of the world.
“The Chinese obviously have the infrastructure. They also have the hunger to succeed and determination to be the best. The issue now is the human resources,” Davidson said. “They need managers with the knowledge of how to operate these venues successfully, how to plan these events in quantity and quality. They know trade shows. That’s what they’ve really excelled at for years. What they are still learning is the convention industry side. There is a huge gap there that needs to be filled.”
The Chinese are solving this problem in two ways, in Davidson’s opinion: by sending students abroad to learn from the best and, in the interim, hiring the brightest talent from the most successful meeting markets in the world.
“There isn’t a year that goes by that I don’t see a good number of Chinese students apply for our program here,” he said. “I am convinced that in a few years time they won’t need us anymore. As little as five years from now, I think China will have native managers instead of transplants, and I predict China will have taken its place among the leaders in events. [Chinese cities] will be up there with New York, Paris and Vienna as regular fixtures in association and corporate event destinations.”
The question is: When will China cross the threshold from emerging market to industry mainstay?
A New Face in the Game
China’s growth in the meeting and event industry means at least one thing for the world’s current leaders: more competition.
An influx of business expansion to China from the rest of the world translates into a larger pool from which to attract conference attendees in any number of professions. China is populated with many the world’s top scientists, researchers, developers and builders, and until recently, those professionals were limited in their business travels.
The Chinese government recently loosened its rein on the list of countries with “approved destination status” to include most developed nations, meaning more outbound business and leisure travel, greater international cultural awareness and access to much-needed, first-hand MICE industry education.
“Trade delegations, incentive groups, [the West] is seeing them more and more. Before they didn’t have the resources or freedom to travel outside their country, but now it means we’re all competing with each other and using more resources to bring the Chinese to our countries as well,” Davidson said. “It’s a two-way street now, and it’s going to be very competitive for China to keep its events domestic.”
Member Rewards
The opening of China also means an opportunity to expand membership in the association world—something MPI is actively pursuing.
Chinese citizens are increasingly taking up the reins and getting the education to succeed as meeting planners, hoteliers and marketing specialists. More active members in the industry in general means an opportunity for associations to not only hold meetings in China, but walk out with a laundry list of members and potential members—from a virtually untapped market.
“Any association looking for a destination for their next global event is naturally going to start looking at China as a viable option in the coming years because of this,” Davidson predicted. “If an association of architects is having its annual meeting, for example, China would be an ideal location. The buildup of infrastructure means a lot of architects, architects who would attend that meeting, so that association stands to pick up a lot of new members simply by holding its meeting in China.”
2010 will be a significant year for China’s growth in the meeting and event industry. As the country begins its 61st year under the communist government instilled by Chairman Mao Zedong in 1949, many experts predict China will become even more of an economic world power. It’s the year of the tiger, according to the Chinese calendar, fitting as the country eyes the international meeting and event industry and is ready to pounce. One+
DAVID R. BASLER is editor in chief of One+.
Watching the BRICs Fly By
While most of the developed world wrestles with recovery from the worst global recession in 70 years, there are four countries where growth is very much still a reality.
The “BRIC nations”—as they were dubbed in 2001 by then-global investment giant GoldmanSachs (ironically, one of the companies whose actions were linked to the root cause of what became a global recession)—are the world’s four fastest-growing influential economically emerging markets: Brazil, Russia, India and China.
And they are entering 2010 relatively unscathed (by comparison) or already seeing signs of major recovery despite the global recession.
“Confidence is highest in Brazil,” said Rob Davidson, senior lecturer for the University of Westminster’s business travel and meeting industry programs. “The recession there was relatively short compared to the rest of the world. They had only two quarters of negative growth in 2009.”
According to India’s Press Information Bureau, the country is considered in recession as GDP growth in 2009 was only 6.1 percent versus the average of 8.8 percent the country had seen in the previous five years, and China’s GDP, though down from 2008, still showed a growth of more than 8 percent.
The point here is that despite the recession in these countries, they are all still seeing positive economic growth, and they are spreading the wealth in countless recessed arenas around the world, making them a force to reckon with, Davidson says.
Even though it’s listed last on GoldmanSachs’ list, China is tops when it comes to overall GDP growth and economic power, boasting the world’s third-largest economy (behind the U.S. and Japan). And, although the country was hit hard by the global recession early, it was only noticeable in the largest cities and business centers, due to a US$585 billion stimulus plan issued by the Chinese government. The plan jumpstarted the domestic economy with new infrastructure construction such as rail and roads connecting the major cities and ports up and down China’s coastline.
“Governments in the European Union and U.S. would kill right now for the kind of positive growth these countries are seeing,” Davidson said. “China is a glowing example of success economically in a down economy, and corporations and associations alike are wanting to share in that glow by having events there.”
The World Comes to China
Events being held in China for the first time in 2010:
- 2010 World Expo (Shanghai)—May 1-Oct. 31 (70 million visitors from 200 countries)
- Annual Conference of the International Emergency Management Society (Beijing) June 8-12 (1,000 delegates expected from 25 countries)
- World Congress of Cardiology (Beijing) June 16-19 (15,000 delegates expected from 100 countries)
- World Cancer Congress (Shenzhen) Aug. 18-21 (3,000 delegates expected from more than 120 countries)
- World Conference of the International Society for Music Education (Beijing) Aug. 2-6 (6,000 delegates expected from 40 countries)