Vinexpo benefits from ‘broader’ visitor base

2014’s Vinexpo Asia-Pacific has benefitted from an estimated 6.4% increase in visitors to 16,800 people, with a particular boost in numbers coming from southeast Asia, according to the fair organiser.

Vinexpo CEO Guillaume Deglise (left) and Vinexpo chairman Xavier de Eizaguirre. Photo credit: Hervé Lefebvre

Speaking during a press conference yesterday afternoon, just hours before the exhibition in Hong Kong closed its doors for this year, Vinexpo chairman Xavier de Eizaguirre said that 2014’s exhibition had attracted more visitors, and pointed out that these were from a broader range of Asian countries than past events.

“We estimate that we had 16,800 visitors from most of the Asian countries,” he said, noting that the number of source countries for visitors to Vinexpo Asia Pacific is “broadening”.

Agreeing with de Eizaguirre’s analysis, Vinexpo CEO Guillaume Deglise said that he was “encouraged” by the number of visitors over the three days of the fair, and recorded a particular growth in the amount of people from southeast Asia.

“It is not just about China, we have noticed a substantial increase in visitors from the rest of Asia, for example the Philippines, Malaysia and Singapore… Vinexpo Asia-Pacific is getting more global,” he commented.

Considering this year’s Vinexpo Asia-Pacific was 50% larger than the 2012’s exhibition in Hong Kong, one might expect a greater fillip to visitor numbers, and a broadening in appeal.

With the extra space coming from Vinexpo’s decision to extend its Asian show over a second floor of the Hong Kong Convention Centre, Deglise said the show organisers would “definitely keep two floors for the future, if not three,” adding that exhibitors this year had said that the extra space had allowed them to host more visitors.

Guillaume also commented that the “main success” of this year’s Vinexpo Asia-Pacific were the “innovations” at the show, such as Spiritual – a bar with cocktail masterclasses run in conjunction with The Spirits Business.

As a result, he said the fair was “definitely a trade show, but it has also become a great experience”.

Finally, when asked whether Vinexpo would hold a wine trade fair in Beijing, as was initially planned for next week, de Eizaguirre stressed that Vinexpo Beijing was “postponed for a number of reasons but not cancelled”, and commented that the show organiser “needed to fine tune the format for that particular market”.

Speaking about the demand for imported wine and western spirits in Mainland China, Deglise remarked that the market was “having a pause now but we all believe that this is just a year of transition.”