Post-outbreak, city relaunches physical exhibitions

AS major exhibition centers resume hosting events, Shanghai has restarted its physical exhibition sector after months of suspension due to COVID-19.

In the first three days of this month, three concurrent trade fairs were held at the Shanghai World Expo Exhibition & Convention Center.

Two of the exhibitions, Biofach China and Craft Beer China, were held by NurnbergMesse, one of the fastest-growing exhibition firms in Europe. The first day of the fairs saw about 8,000 visitors.

These exhibitions are not only among the earliest trade fairs in Shanghai, but also the first shows held by NurnbergMesse after the novel coronavirus outbreak, said Darren Guo, managing director of NurnbergMesse China Co.

“For my colleagues and peers in China and Germany, the restart of physical exhibitions in Shanghai will no doubt inject confidence in the world,” he said, adding that the move also indicated the epidemic is under control in China, and the country’s economy is recovering.

“Almost every enterprise has strengthened online communication after the outbreak. However, physical exhibitions are still indispensable. The exhibition industry is a barometer of the market, which can reflect the business environment of different sectors,” said Gao Jing, an exhibitor from northwest China’s Qinghai Province.

A slew of epidemic prevention and control measures have been taken, including launching an online reservation system for visitors, and having their temperatures checked upon arrival.

The city’s National Exhibition and Convention Center also began hosting exhibitions from July 1 after several months of closure due to COVID-19.

As one of the top exhibition cities in the world, Shanghai has a total exhibition area of over 1 million square meters. Last year, it held 310 international exhibitions and 496 domestic fairs, according to the Shanghai Convention and Exhibition Industries Association.

(Xinhua)