I The Current Development
In 2009, the exhibition area of the exhibition projects held at the city’s key venues increased by 51.50 percent to 5.6232 million square meters; A total of 6,100 conferences and meetings were held, up by 61.85 percent on a year to year basis; There were 7.5397 million person times of passengers, participants and exhibitors, with an increase of 31.59 percent on a year to year basis
Measured as a single city, Guangzhou has the leading place in the world in terms of exhibition area, where Guangzhou International Conference and Exhibition Center has an exhibition area of about 340,000 square meters and nearly 3,000 enterprises （organizations） are in possession of exhibition venues with an area of over 2,000 square meters.
As the center of South China’s economic development, Guangzhou has had its regional gross domestic product ranked as top three in the national cities for 20 consecutive years, with the GDP of more than USD 10,000 dollars per capita. A full range of large-sized manufacturing groups in the Pearl River Delta provide rich exhibiting companies resources for a variety of exhibitions; Exhibition topics are involved in more than 30 categories including mechanical and electrical products, equipment, electronics, automotive, printing, packaging, construction, decoration materials, furniture, cosmetics, food, beverages, tobacco and wine, clothing, shoes and hats, knitting, and daily articles. Exhibition items continue to emerge, which are dominated by the tertiary industry contents such as talents exchange, real estate, art, logistics, animation and other aspects. Nearly 190,000 overseas buyers have attended the 106th Guangzhou Fair, with 13.7 percent and 7.8 percent respectively higher than those at the 105th and 104th. In the financial crisis, a sound development momentum had been maintained. In terms of exhibition area, Auto exhibition, building materials exhibition, furniture exhibition, plastics and rubber exhibition and others have all been in the forefront of Asia
In 2009, 65 international exhibitions were held in Guangzhou, with the exhibition area of 4.3941 million square meters, accounting for 78.14 percent of the annual exhibition area. Of them, up to 11 international exhibitions have an exhibition area of more than 50,000 square meters. To date, 35 foreign-funded enterprises in exhibition industry have been set up in Guangzhou, of which seven enterprises specialize in international exhibition organization. Annually more than 20 international exhibitions are held in Guangzhou, of which foreign-funded exhibition projects including beauty and hair salons, Frankfurt Lighting, Lineapelle Leather are all at the national leading level
II Development Priorities
iTo Optimize Government Service Environment
Since 2009, a series of policies and regulations and guidance documents such as Proposals on Accelerating the Development of the Conference and Exhibition Industry, Exhibition Management Regulations of Guangzhou City, Conference and Exhibition Industry Development Plan of Guangzhou City （2010-2015） and Exhibition Intellectual Property Rights Protection Measures of Guangzhou City have been issued to optimize the city’s government service environment of the conference and exhibition industry
iiTo Cultivate Function Area
Pazhou International Business Conference and Exhibition core function area will be cultivated, and more international and domestic brand conferences and exhibitions will be brought in to Pazhou. At the same time, the development potential of the exhibitions at Liuhua area will be fully tapped and the conference functional area of Baiyun New Town will be actively created. The conference and exhibition industry with distinct features should be developed in accordance with different regional characteristics and industry positioning.
iiiTo Develop Leading Exhibition Enterprise
The pulling role of China （Guangzhou） Foreign Trade Center will be played by supporting leading exhibition enterprises to set up trans-regional, cross-industry, and large-scale international exhibition groups through purchase, merger, combination, joint shares or holding shares and other forms.
Iv To Strengthen Foreign Exchange and Cooperation
Great efforts will be made to seek the introduction of an internationally renowned exhibition of electronic information, marine engineering, and petroleum and chemical manufacturing industry. International exchange and cooperation should be strengthened to attract international exhibition enterprises to start or co-organize exhibitions. The jointed hands with the exhibition institutions in Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan will be made to perform international promotion, and to form the multi-level, multi-field and mutually complementary exhibition market structure at Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan.
V To Do More Work in Publicity
Exhibition economy, exhibition companies, and exhibition talents will be vigorously publicized, and public advocacy, forums, seminars and other activities will be also provided for key cultivated exhibitions and large-scale exhibition activities
Vi To Strengthen Coordination and Guidance
Efforts will be made to increase the coordination and guidance of the exhibition industry, and to formulate development plan for exhibition industry. The guidance catalogue of exhibition items should be issued to nail down the exhibition items into the development-encouraging category and the development-restricting category
Guangzhou City
