Return of Shanghai's grand fairs marks strong economic recovery

People queue up to enter the exhibition hall of Tourism Plus Shanghai in east China's Shanghai, March 28, 2023. (Xinhua/Chen Aiping)

SHANGHAI, March 30 (Xinhua) -- Xuan Zhirong was pleasantly surprised when his company's 18-square-meter booth attracted over 300 visitors in just half a day, following the opening of the five major fairs of the textile and garment industry in Shanghai on Tuesday.

The exhibitions at the National Exhibition and Convention Center, with a total area of about 360,000 square meters, include Intertextile Shanghai Apparel Fabrics, Intertextile Shanghai Home Textiles, Yarn Expo, China International Fashion Fair, and China International Knitting Fair.

"So many people and everyone is so busy. It's completely beyond expectation. Be it exhibitors, buyers, designers, or R&D personnel, all are looking for cooperation opportunities at this offline exhibition," said Xuan, business director of Changshu AIS Textile Technology Co., Ltd., an exhibitor based in Changshu City in east China's Jiangsu Province.

According to Messe Frankfurt (HK) Ltd., one of the organizers, the booths at the Yarn Expo were fully booked ahead of the opening of the fairs. With an exhibition area of 160,000 square meters, Intertextile Shanghai Apparel Fabrics attracted nearly 3,000 companies from 22 countries and regions.

Zhang Yan, general manager of Shanghai Huien International Trade Co., Ltd., led five staff members to visit different exhibition areas, hoping to find novel and cost-effective fabrics and ship them to European and American ready-to-wear customers for selection.

According to Zhang, fabric is a vital component of the textile and garment industry, and physical exhibitions create valuable opportunities to select fabrics through "touch" which was not possible at online fairs during the pandemic period.

"Although export is facing increasingly fierce competition, Chinese textile and fabric enterprises pay more attention to R&D and innovation, showing their strong resilience and vitality," Zhang said.

Wolfgang Marzin, president and CEO of Messe Frankfurt Group, said that when Messe Frankfurt and the Sub-Council of Textile Industry of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade jointly held a textile fabric fair for the first time in 1995, there were only 150 exhibitors, but the number has today surged to almost 3,000.

"The group now holds more than 40 exhibitions a year in China, which has become our largest overseas market," Marzin said.

He added that these fairs in China reflect the continued strong growth of the Chinese economy, the huge volume of imports and exports, and the growing importance of the Chinese market.

A comprehensive tourism expo, Tourism Plus Shanghai, also kicked off in Shanghai on Tuesday, attracting nearly 5,000 exhibitors, with an exhibition area of 600,000 square meters.

"Bustling exhibitions can not only significantly boost the confidence of exhibitors and visitors, but also offer a platform for negotiations and deals and promote the flow of capital, workforce, data and other elements, thus injecting impetus to the development of the industry," said Zhang Xueqiang, general manager of Shanghai Sinoexpo Informa Markets International Exhibition Co., Ltd., which organizes the tourism expo.

"The return of large-scale exhibitions makes us more confident about the development of the tourism economy," said Sun Jian, general manager of BTG Homeinns Hotels (Group) Co., Ltd., one of China's major hotel groups.

Sun added that the occupancy rate of the hotels under the group in first-tier cities such as Beijing and Shanghai increased by over 30 percent year on year in the first two months of 2023.