Business diversification is an important business strategy for overseas exhibition agents

The latest “2018 China Exhibition Industry Survey Report”released by Beijing New Expo Wisdom Big Data Technology Research Institute surveyed and studied the business situation of Chinese exhibition agents. As a bridge connecting overseas organizers and domestic exhibitors， the overseas exhibition agents directly reflects the development status of Chinas outbound exhibition industry. The institute conducted this research and the reports reflects the basic features of Chinas outbound exhibition industry from various micro levels of business operations. Here are a few important conclusions：

Business diversification is an important business strategy

In terms of business categories， this survey shows that more than half of the companies （58%） are only engaged in overseas exhibition agent business. In addition， 32% of enterprises also use the relevant business resources accumulated over a long period of time to expand their business scope. Among the companies surveyed， 27% of companies also have a foot in overseas exhibition construction service， 21% in international air ticket business， 23% in international convention and exhibition logistics， and 30% in consulting and other businesses（including： overseas business visits， academic exchange tours）. These business categories are related to the nature of the organization itself and the existing business resources. By exploring diversified businesses， companies have effectively reduced business risks and increased revenue channels. Under the overall background of the current industry fierce competition and the increase of international market risk， business diversification is expected to become one of the most important business strategies of the exhibition agents.

The number of “One Belt， One Road” region exhibition projects is dominant

Among the projects commissioned by the surveyed companies， 72% of the exhibition projects are along the “Belt and Road”， especially in Asia； 28% of the exhibition projects are in developed exhibition markets such as Europe and the United States. The results are basically consistent with the findings of CCPIT. It can be seen that emerging markets such as the“Belt and Road”regions are well received by Chinese exhibitors and the business opportunities deserve further exploration.

Enterprises favor mature brand exhibitions in traditional markets

In 2017， when selecting overseas exhibitions， the considerations of Chinese exhibitors were ranked from the most important ones as below：The mature brand exhibitions in traditional foreign trade destinations market； emerging market exhibitions； see whether there are government subsidies； no fixed participation plans， based on their own market development plans； mainly listen to the recommendations of the group exhibition agencies； other factors. In 2018， “mature brand exhibitions in the traditional markets of Europe and the United States” is still the most important indicator for enterprises to choose overseas exhibitions， indicating that the appeal of exhibitions in mature markets is still huge.

The second factor has changed from “emerging market exhibition” to“having government subsidies”. It can be seen that in the case of the overall economic downturn and the relatively high cost of exhibiting abroad， government subsidy is still one of the important factors when the majority of exhibitors choose the exhibition.