In 2019, among prefecture-level cities, Dongguan, Suzhou and Wuxi emerged among the first echelon of the meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions (MICE) industry, scoring around 30. The graph is derived from the “Report”.
On October 22, the “2019 Report on China’s Urban MICE Industry Competitiveness Index” (hereinafter referred to as the “Report”) was released at the Conference on China’s Urban MICE Industry Competitiveness Index in 2020, Forum for MICE Industry hosted in Chengdu. Dongguan ranks third in the 2019 China’s urban MICE industry competitiveness index among prefecture-level cities, following Suzhou and Wuxi and emerging among the first echelon among prefecture-level cities driving MICE development.
Dongguan emerging among the first echelon of MICE Industry among prefecture-level cities
In fact, this is not the first time for Dongguan to make a presence on the national ranking list. Dongguan was elected among the “2017 China’s Most Competitive Convention and Exhibition Cities”. In the 2018 Report on China’s Urban MICE Industry Competitiveness Index, Dongguan ranked seventh among capital cities and prefecture-level cities in the 2018 China’s urban MICE industry competitiveness index.
The “Report” was formulated by China Convention/Exhibition/Event Society (CCEES) and Chengdu Research Center of the CCEES based on the statistics of the major convention and exhibition cities for years. The index has collected 125 effective sampling cities meeting the statistics standard, including 4 municipalities, 15 sub-provincial cities, 16 capital cities and 90 prefecture-level cities.
The “Report” indicated that among the prefecture-level cities in 2019, Dongguan, Suzhou and Wuxi emerged as the first echelon in the MICE industry with higher competitiveness index in urban MICE industry, scoring around 30; Foshan, Yantai, Changzhou and Zhuhai emerged as the second echelon with mild gap with the first echelon, scoring around 25; the rest of the top ten cities in the rankings fall into the third echelon.
In the 2019 urban overall environment competitiveness index that reflects development foundation and potential of urban convention and exhibition industry, the top five cities in the ranking are Suzhou, Wuxi, Dongguan, Changzhou and Foshan. That is to say, these five cities get the highest score among the prefecture-level cities in the comprehensive competitiveness in economy, livability and sustainable development.
In the competitiveness index of service of the urban convention and exhibition managing department, Wuxi, Suzhou, Dongguan and Yantai all demonstrate satisfying performance. This indicates that the government departments of these cities are actively pushing forward sound and orderly development of the local convention and exhibition industry through multiple measures such as policy guidance, fund support and supervision.
In the competitiveness index of urban convention and exhibition education that reflects the competitiveness of potential talents in urban MICE industry, Dongguan is short of the advantages enjoyed by other cities. This shows that higher institutions in Dongguan still have room for development in nurturing special talents in MICE industry.
An exhibition hosted every six days in Dongguan
In June this year, the “resumption” button was pressed in the MICE industry after the pandemic. The first exhibition is “2020 Dongguan Spring International Auto Exhibition” hosted in Guangdong Modern International Exhibition Center. In August, the 43rd/44th International Famous Furniture Fair (Dongguan) and Furniture Machinery & Material Fair was successfully closed; on October 20, the “2020 China (Dongguan) International Forum on Epidemic Prevention and Health Industry Development” was concluded; also in October, the China International Food Ingredients Expo was hosted in Dongguan, which is the only exhibition in the international food and materials and ingredients industry hosted in China.
The above reflects only a part of Dongguan’s MICE industry. According to the statistics of the Bureau of Commerce of Dongguan City, an exhibition of certain size is hosted in Dongguan every six days with a series of high-level large exhibitions taking turn to present in Dongguan every year.
Dongguan has a long history of hosting exhibitions and conventions. This can be dated back to the 1990s. It’s been 30 years since the successful hosting of the “Ten-Year Achievements Exhibition of Dongguan’s Reform and Opening up” in 1990. Dongguan formed the exhibition modes such as “integrated operation and management of import and exhibition halls” and “integration of exhibition and trade”, ranking among “China’s Most Competitive Convention and Exhibition Cities” for many consecutive years.
According to statistics, since 2016, Dongguan has hosted 176 national exhibition events with considerable influence in the industry such as China Processing Trade Products Fair, China International Animation Copyright Fair, International Printing Technology Exhibition of China (Guangdong) and International Famous Furniture Fair. The exhibition area (including integrated exhibition and trade) covers 8.6238 million square meters, involving exhibition and participation of 35,356 brand enterprises and 5.446 million buyers and visitors.
According to the “2020 exhibition plan” released by Guangdong Modern Exhibition Management Co., Ltd., 36 exhibitions are hosted in Houjie Town this year, including the “Annual Conference of China Convention/Exhibition/Event Society”, the 12th China International Animation Copyright Fair, International Famous Furniture Fair and Taiwan Famous Fair Dongguan. Among them, the “Annual Conference of China Convention/Exhibition/Event Society” was hosted again in Houjie Town since its last presence here in 2007. The conference represents the highest level among the annual conferences of China’s MICE industry. Houjie Town won the title of “China’s famous town of convention and exhibition” at this annual conference before.
This year, Dongguan specially formulated the “Implementation Plan for Developing Upgrading Version of Dongguan’s MICE industry”, pointing a clear direction for local development of MICE industry. Undergoing external adjustment and opportunities, Dongguan’s MICE industry is highly regarded by China and the international MICE industry with its upgrading potential and value.
