ASIA PACIFIC. Vinexpo Asia Pacific, the region’s largest international wine and spirits exhibition, has wrapped up its 2010 exhibition with record numbers.
The event, which took place at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre from 25 to 27 May, welcomed 12,617 exclusively professional visitors – +42% more than in 2008. Vinexpo is staged every two years in Bordeaux, and overseas in alternate years.
Of the visitors this year 43.5% came from Hong Kong and Macau and the other 56.5% from 24 other Asia Pacific countries. Mainland China led with 4,136 visitors, nearly double (up +83.5%) the number that came in 2008, followed by Taiwan (487), Korea (391), Japan (256), Singapore (247), Australia (170), Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, the Philippines, India and other countries in the region.
All sectors of activity were represented by these visitors: importers, wholesalers, retailers, sommeliers and food & beverage managers, as well as duty free, airline and hospitality purchasers.
474 journalists from the Asian press, radio and television covered the event, and their number was strengthened by specialist and general press representatives from Europe and the US.
In three days 882 exhibitors from 32 countries displayed the largest range of wines and spirits ever put on show at one venue in Asia Pacific, Vinexpo said.
“Vinexpo Asia Pacific is a tremendous bridgehead for China. This exhibition helps us to penetrate a difficult market, because the major importers attend,” commented French exhibitor Philippe Magrez, General Manager of Vignobles Bernard Magrez.
Alongside the exhibition the programme of 42 tastings, presentations and seminars of the Vinexpo Academy was attended by more than 6,000 professionals, reflecting the growing interest that Asians have in wines and spirits.
“Vinexpo Academy was invented to meet the sector’s demand as a platform for knowledge enhancement”, explained Vinexpo Asia-Pacific President Dominique Hériard Dubreuil. “It’s a real opportunity for visitors to come and meet the finest specialists in the industry, to develop their knowledge and strengthen their confidence.”
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Vinexpo Asia Pacific 2010, held in Hong Kong, welcomed 12,617 exclusively professional visitors – +42% more than in 2008. 43.5% of these came from Hong Kong and Macau and the other 56.5% from 24 other Asia Pacific countries |
The trends
The overwhelming numbers of visitors to the exhibition demonstrate the vitality of the Asian markets that is a consequence of the growing interest of consumers in wine and spirits, Vinexpo said.
Dubreuil also pointed out that many exhibitors were struck by the positive development in visitors’ knowledge, their curiosity and appreciation of the products. “This development is both reassuring for the industry’s exporters and an encouraging sign that the Asian professionals are capable of presenting product information adequately to the consumers.”
According to the Vinexpo/The IWSR study the Asian wine market will undergo its strongest growth in the next five years of +5% per year, compared to a world average of less than 1%. Total Asian retail sales of still light wines reached US$7.18 billion in 2009; they are expected to increase by +27% by 2013.
Having consumed 1.18 billion 9-litre cases in 2009, Asia Pacific remains the leading world consumer of spirits: 50.6% of all the spirits drunk worldwide are consumed in Asia.
The next Vinexpo takes place in Bordeaux from 19 to 23 June 2011.
For further information visit www.vinexpo.com.
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