First, the positive role of the convention and exhibition economy
The development of the convention and exhibition economy is the sign of maturation and perfection of the tertiary industry, and it is the booster of the development of the modern city and the development of the regional economy, and it has various positive roles:
(1) Strong economic linkage role. The exhibition industry not only has a huge market of its own, but also has a very strong linkage driving effect on the development of national and regional services, tourism, catering, communication, accommodation, advertisement, transportation and other economic sectors. According to experts' estimation, the industry-driven coefficient of international exhibition industry is about 1:9, which means that the profit of organizing exhibition itself can be up to 10%, but the profit of driving the development of related industries can be up to 90%. The Canton Fair, which is held twice a year, drives the development of tertiary industry in Guangzhou. During the period of the Fair, the occupancy rate of hotels in Guangzhou reaches more than 90%, and more than 100,000 foreign businessmen from more than 200 countries and regions gather in Guangzhou, and the daily income of cabs alone surges by about 3 million yuan compared with that of the weekdays. The exhibition industry is a labor-intensive industry, which can also provide a large number of employment opportunities for the society. As far as the exhibition itself is concerned, it is estimated that for every additional 1,000 square meters of exhibition area, nearly 100 jobs can be created. In addition, the promotion of other industries by the convention and exhibition industry has increased employment opportunities. For example, in 1999, the Kunming World Horticultural Expo contributed to the rapid development of the tourism industry in the whole of Yunnan Province, which in turn led to the employment of 400,000 to 500,000 people in the related industries. According to statistics, the annual convention and exhibition industry in Hong Kong can provide about 90,000 employment opportunities for Hong Kong.
(ii) Huge direct economic benefits. The convention and exhibition industry is a high-income and highly profitable industry. According to the survey of Commonwealth Exhibition Federation, for exhibitors, the cost of enterprises to find customers through general channels is ￡219, while the cost of finding customers through conventions and exhibitions is only 25%; for convention and exhibition organizers, the profits of conventions and exhibitions are generally more than 25%, and some of them are even as high as 50%. According to the estimation of the authority of international exhibition industry, the output value of international exhibition industry accounts for about 1% of the total GDP of all countries in the world, and if added with the benefits of other related industries from the exhibition, the contribution of the exhibition industry to the global economy has reached the level of 8%. At present, the global annual total expenses of international exhibitions amount to more than 280 billion dollars, and the economic benefits are quite considerable. According to statistics, more than 200 commercial exhibitions are held in the United States in a year, and the economic benefit reaches 3.8 billion dollars. In our country, according to incomplete statistics, in the past 10 years, our country has realized more than 34 billion US dollars of foreign trade export turnover through exhibitions, and more than 12 billion RMB of domestic trade transactions.
(3) Promote the city to improve the facilities and raise the visibility of the city.
The development of the exhibition industry, especially the international exhibition industry, requires cities to give priority to the development of various aspects, such as transportation and hotel services, to promote the construction of urban infrastructure, and to accelerate the beautification of the cityscape, so as to lay the foundation for the development of the exhibition industry. Dalian, originally a city focusing on heavy industry, has built a large number of new infrastructures with international standards by organizing international exhibitions such as the Dalian International Fashion Festival and the Dalian International Beer Festival, and has gradually become an influential international exhibition city. It has built a large number of infrastructures of international standards and gradually become an influential international convention and exhibition city. Through organizing conventions and exhibitions, it can also greatly promote exchanges among people of various countries and regions, and constantly improve the international popularity and reputation of the countries or cities hosting conventions and exhibitions. For example, Paris, France, enjoys the reputation of "capital of international conferences" because it holds more than 300 international conferences and exhibitions every year.
Second, the analysis of the current situation of China's conference and exhibition economy
With the good momentum of China's economic development, especially since the late 1990s, in the case of the world's economic downturn and growth, China's economy stands alone, and the annual GDP growth is maintained at the level of 7-8%, which lays a solid foundation for the development of China's conference and exhibition industry. Coupled with China's accession to the WTO, the official implementation of CEPA, the Pan-Pearl River Delta regional economic cooperation and development continues to deepen, as well as the success of Beijing's Olympic bid, Shanghai has won the right to host the 2010 World Expo, the first China - ASEAN Expo successfully concluded, etc., have contributed to the flourishing of China's exhibition economy. At present, China's convention and exhibition economy presents the following characteristics:
(1) Rapid development of convention and exhibition and huge market potential. According to incomplete statistics, China currently has 158 exhibition venues, with a total indoor exhibition area of 3.22 million square meters and a total outdoor exhibition area of 2.21 million square meters. Among them, in recent years, there are more than 30 newly built exhibition halls with an exhibition area of more than 10,000 square meters. Basically, Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Dalian, Chengdu and other exhibition centers have been formed. At present, the more famous exhibitions in China include Canton Fair in Guangzhou, which is held twice a year in spring and fall, West Fair in Hangzhou, High Tech Fair in Shenzhen, Science Fair in Beijing, Ningbo Garment Festival, Beijing International Home Appliances Exhibition, as well as the China International Industry Fair, Shanghai National (Consumer) Commodities Fair, National Tourism Fair and so on. According to relevant statistics, at present, domestic companies with the qualification of hosting exhibitions have reached more than 230, and more than 2,000 exhibitions of various types are held every year, with a total exhibition area of 12 million square meters. Some experts expect that the average annual increase of China's exhibition industry will be around 30% in the next few years. By 2005, the direct income of China's exhibition industry will be more than 6.5 billion yuan, and it will bring about 50 billion yuan for other industries; and by the time the Shanghai World Expo will be held in 2010, only one item of tourism will reach 80 billion yuan. It can be seen that the market potential of exhibition economy is very great.
(2) Regional alliance for convention and exhibition has appeared, and five major convention and exhibition city clusters have been formed in China. At present, there are five major "convention and exhibition city clusters" in the south, north, east, northeast, central and west of China. The southern conference and exhibition city cluster is the "Pearl River Delta conference and exhibition city cluster" represented by Guangzhou, with the Canton Fair as the leader, connected with Shenzhen and Hong Kong in the south, and connected with Dongguan, Shunde, Zhuhai, Zhongshan and other conference and exhibition cities in the east. With the unfolding of Pan-Pearl River Delta (PPRD) region's economic cooperation, as well as the implementation of CEPA, and the increasingly closer economic exchanges between Hong Kong and Macao and the mainland, the space for conference and exhibition cities in the Pearl River Delta is very broad. With the unfolding of Pan-Pearl River Delta regional economic cooperation and the implementation of CEPA, as well as the increasingly close economic exchanges between Hong Kong and Macao and the mainland, the space of the Pearl River Delta convention and exhibition cities is very broad, and the prospect is very promising. The eastern conference and exhibition city cluster is the "Yangtze River Delta Conference and Exhibition City Cluster" centered on Shanghai, with Nanjing, Hefei, Suzhou, Nantong, Ningbo, Wenzhou, Yiwu, Hangzhou and other cities taking Shanghai as the leader and vigorously developing the regional conference and exhibition economy, but the integration and development still need to be strengthened. Although Shanghai has obtained the right to hold the World Expo in 2010, the overall conference and exhibition industry of the Yangtze River Delta started later than that of the Pearl River Delta, and the operation rules and the overall atmosphere are not as good as that of the Pearl River Delta; Northeast conference and exhibition city cluster, that is to say, Dalian, Changchun, Harbin, Shenyang and Jilin and other cities are mainly conference and exhibition city cluster, of which, Dalian has developed particularly rapidly in recent years by organizing the International Clothing Festival and the International Beer Festival; Central and Western Conference and Exhibition City Cluster, that is to say, the conference and exhibition city cluster of the western provincial capitals, such as Chengdu, Nanning and Kunming, etc., the development of the western part of our country has been continuously increasing, and the conference and exhibition industry of the cities in the central and western part has developed rapidly in recent years, and the investment of Chengdu California Group has been very successful. Rapid development in recent years, Chengdu California Group invested 2 billion yuan to build the Paradise Walled City Conference and Resort Center has the name of the Oriental Davos, Nanning has the China - ASEAN International Expo's settlement, Kunming's Expo is with years of marketing experience and advantages.
(3) The exhibition industry is gradually becoming internationalized. Canton Fair is China's foreign trade is the largest platform, not only the longest history, the largest scale, the most commodities, and more and more high grade, turnover is getting bigger and bigger. Canton Fair turnover accounted for 1/4 of China's general trade exports, for Guangdong accounted for 1/3, is deservedly China's foreign trade, the first brand, with a certain degree of universality. The 97th Canton Fair (a show) in the afternoon of April 20 closing. According to the latest statistics, as of April 19, there have been 209 countries and regions of 117794 buyers reported to the same period than the previous year, an increase of 21.90%, compared with last year's Spring Fair (95th) the same period an increase of 34.52%. Electromechanical products continue to play a leading role, as of the 18th, electromechanical products turnover of 5.707 billion U.S. dollars, accounting for 53.8% of the total turnover, turnover increased by 11.8% compared with the previous session.
In addition to the Canton Fair, dozens of international and domestic large-scale conferences such as the World Architects Congress and the UPU Congress held in Beijing, the China International Industry Fair held in Shanghai, and the World Expo to be held in 2010 have all contributed to the internationalization of China's exhibition industry. "11 countries set the stage, 1.7 billion people sing, 6 billion people applaud!" The first China-ASEAN Expo was held in November last year, which is also an important step towards internationalization of China's exhibition industry. In the four-day investment promotion and exhibition, the Expo realized the "three super", that is, domestic and foreign registered exhibitors reached 2,506, more than the original plan; declared 4,423 booths, more than double the existing booths, 10 ASEAN countries and other countries and regions outside of the country *** use booths 757, accounting for the total number of exhibition space 42.9%; *** more than 500 exhibitors, accounting for 33.2% of the total number of exhibitors, exceeding the expected target. There were more than 18,000 domestic and foreign exhibitors and buyers, and 19 of the world's top 500 enterprises participated in the exhibition. More than 300,000 domestic and foreign visitors were received during the whole exposition. Facts have proved that the China-ASEAN Expo has shown many business opportunities on its first time. The cumulative trade turnover amounted to 1.03 billion U.S. dollars, of which 826 million U.S. dollars were exported, 123 million U.S. dollars were imported, and 0.85 billion U.S. dollars were domestic trade. *** Signed 129 foreign investment projects with a total investment of 4.968 billion U.S. dollars. Signed 102 domestic cooperation projects with a total investment of 47.5 billion yuan RMB. Recorded the brilliant results of the first battle, for China's conference and exhibition industry to the international community took a solid step forward.
Third, the main problems of China's convention and exhibition economy
(1) Insufficient marketization, multiple government departments and lack of unified management institutions. Strictly speaking, in the past, China's conventions and exhibitions were planned and hosted by the government, which was the government's behavior, and the modern convention and exhibition industry in the real sense was developed only in recent years. The government-sponsored conventions and exhibitions are the manifestation of insufficient industrialization and marketization of the convention and exhibition industry, which cannot meet the requirements of the development of China's market economy. For many years, the conference and exhibition industry has not been treated as an independent industry for planning and development, and has only been treated as a means to promote the development of economy, trade, science and technology, and culture, thus, China has implemented the classification management and hierarchical management of the conference and exhibition industry, and the macro management of the conference and exhibition industry involves a number of departments such as foreign trade and economic affairs, domestic trade, science and technology, culture, etc., which results in the serious phenomenon of multi-discipline, multi-approval and multi-management, and cross-ties in the management of conference and exhibition industry. As a result, the management of the conference and exhibition industry is characterized by multiple departments, multiple approvals, multiple administrations and serious cross-pollination. The lack of a unified, coordinated and efficient management organization for the conference and exhibition industry often directly results in the conference and exhibition industry being "prosperous but not prosperous".
(2) The number of exhibition halls is large, the area is small, the level is low, and there are few internationalized brands. Due to the prominent interests of various regions in China, the phenomenon of duplicated exhibitions is serious, and there is a lack of unified planning and integration across the country. The construction of exhibition halls in China does not emphasize on quality, the layout is messy, and the contents and themes of exhibitions are similar. Compared with the countries with developed international conference and exhibition industry, although the number of China's exhibition halls is large and the number of conferences and exhibitions is high, poor quality, small scale and low grade are common phenomena, and there is a lack of international conferences and exhibitions of large scale and high grade, which makes China's international brand of conference and exhibition even more scarce, and its influence in the international conference and exhibition industry is not strong.
(3) The scale of exhibition companies is small, the exhibition laws and regulations are not sound, and the exhibition industry lacks self-discipline. Compared with the number of numerous exhibition halls, the development of companies serving the convention and exhibition industry, such as organizers, builders and logistics companies, is relatively lagging behind. Companies specializing in the convention and exhibition industry are generally small in scale and weak in competitive strength, and they do not operate in strict accordance with the laws of market economy, do not form the self-regulation of the convention and exhibition industry, and the disorderly competition among convention and exhibition enterprises has affected the healthy development of China's convention and exhibition industry.
(4) Lack of high-quality exhibition professionals. The development of modern conference and exhibition industry needs a large number of professional conference and exhibition talents and conference and exhibition company's careful planning, *** with efforts. However, at present, China's high-quality conference and exhibition professionals and conference and exhibition companies are lacking, the quality of conference and exhibition personnel is low, and there is a lack of conference and exhibition planning companies, resulting in a lot of conferences and exhibitions in China focusing on the form, not on the content, and the conference and exhibition of the economic benefits and quality of the big discount. At present, in China's exhibition, most people are exhibition organizers, exhibition managers, or exhibition implementers, professional division of labor and collaboration is very backward, many exhibition organizers also have to personally arrange for exhibitors' food, housing, transportation, travel, shopping, entertainment, greatly reducing the organizational efficiency of the exhibition work, affecting the benefits of the exhibition.
Fourth, the future development of China's conference and exhibition economy
(1) Take the market-oriented road, strengthen the macro-control, and create a good market environment for the healthy development of the conference and exhibition industry. The conference and exhibition industry should take the road of marketization and industrialization, and it should completely change the situation that many main exhibition units in the past relied on the government departments to approve tasks and issue subsidies to make a living, and it should actively learn from the experience of the development of the conference and exhibition industry in foreign countries, and it must go to the market and develop and grow continuously in the market competition. The government should reform the administrative examination and approval system, and change from the past direct hosting to strengthening the macro-control, and transfer the economic management function to the main service for the market exhibition and create a good development environment. The government should make medium and long-term planning, development strategy, industrial policy, etc., promote fair competition and rational allocation of resources in the exhibition market, put the main efforts on the establishment of market rules and market supervision, and create a favorable environment for the development of the exhibition industry.
(2) Establishing and improving laws and regulations on convention and exhibition and strengthening industry self-regulation. According to the current situation of the development of the conference and exhibition industry, make relevant laws and regulations as soon as possible, and strive to introduce laws and regulations concerning the conference and exhibition industry as soon as possible in a few years' time, so as to effectively regulate the conference and exhibition industry with the legal system, strengthen the control and management of non-market behaviors, and create a market environment of fair competition for the conference and exhibition industry. At the same time, national and local associations of international or regional conference and exhibition industry can be formed, which will be responsible for formulating association statutes and industry regulations of conference and exhibition industry, and supervising unfair competition and fraudulent behaviors in conference and exhibition industry market, so as to maintain the fair competition in conference and exhibition market and ensure the healthy development of conference and exhibition market.
(3) Accelerating the construction of conference and exhibition characteristics, creating the brand of conference and exhibition economy, and connecting with the international conference and exhibition as soon as possible. China's conference and exhibition industry must form its own characteristics, create conference and exhibition brand, which is the healthy development of the conference and exhibition industry, as soon as possible with the international conference and exhibition industry, the key factors. Such as known as "the capital of Asian conference and exhibition" of Hong Kong, its annual organization of nearly 100 exhibitions, there are 6 is the industry's largest in Asia, its leather exhibition or the world's largest, distinctive, brand benefit is obvious. To this end, China's conference and exhibition industry to establish brand awareness, create more like Canton fair, science fair such as economy of scale and international influence of the boutique, speed up the pace of international integration. The conference and exhibition industry should also carry out large-scale external publicity and promotion, and the government and enterprises should join hands to publicize the characteristic image of the conference and exhibition destinations through various channels such as TV, radio, network and newspapers, and concentrate on creating characteristic brand exhibitions. The publicity and promotion should also pay attention to the joint promotion of convention and exhibition industry and tourism, closely combine the publicity of convention and exhibition destinations with the publicity of local natural ecological scenery, humanities and historical landscapes, promote conventions and exhibitions with tourism, drive tourism with conventions and exhibitions, and strive to realize the win-win situation of conventions and exhibitions and tourism.
(4) Launching theoretical research on convention and exhibition and constantly strengthening the cultivation of convention and exhibition professionals. the convening of the first China Convention and Exhibition Theory Education and Training Symposium in September 2003 marked the beginning of the development of theoretical education in China's convention and exhibition industry, and the participation of nearly 20 universities and nearly 10 convention and exhibition research institutes as well as 10 media and publishing companies in the country can be regarded as a It can be called a "big gathering" in China's conference and exhibition theory education sector. To launch conference and exhibition theoretical research and cultivate conference and exhibition professionals, we should grasp the conference and exhibition degree professional education of colleges and universities and the conference and exhibition vocational education of conference and exhibition research institutes and conference and exhibition vocational training units, and make constant breakthroughs in the aspects of teaching materials, teachers, scientific research achievements, certified training and Chinese-foreign school running to cultivate high-caliber conference and exhibition talents in China's conference and exhibition industry, and to promote the rapid and healthy development of the conference and exhibition industry.