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June 21, 2017

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Home » City specials » Hangzhou

Xiaoshan groomed as ‘meeting room’ of SE China

AS a city with picturesque scenery, an abundance of hotels, and close to the country’s economic hub, Shanghai, Hangzhou has been focusing on developing the MICE (meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions) industry for almost a decade.

Last year’s G20 Summit was a nice demonstration of the city, which in return allured international event planners and enterprisers to invest here. The soft power of MICE industry was consolidated during the summit.

Earlier this month, Hangzhou hosted the Conference and Incentive Industry Fair, which attracted more than 150 domestic and overseas companies.

Every participant was required to bring one to three MICE projects to the fair. Booths were set up to provide suppliers and buyers with plenty of time to talk over with each other on the site.

According to statistics, 200 projects were negotiated during the conference. In the future, more than 60,000 industry insiders are expected to come and look for more cooperation and opportunities in the city.

Xiaoshan District, which will house the Hangzhou Olympic Center, used to be a suburban industrial area. In 2009, the local government launched a plan to promote it as the “meeting room” in southeastern China. Now, this district has become an important MICE destination in the Yangtze Delta region, relying on ample tourist resources, surrounding parks, resorts, hotels, aquarium and even office buildings.

“Xiaoshan is the new city center of Hangzhou by virtue of its historical opportunity to host the G20 Summit and 2022 Asian Games,” said Luo Linfeng, vice director of Xiaoshan District. “MICE industry is the epitome of modern development. Xiaoshan has quality infrastructure and solid foundation to develop the industry.”

For a long time, the city lacked large exhibition halls to host high-end activities. That has changed now. The Hangzhou International Expo Center, which was built for the summit, has become the city’s new name card.

Last month, the First China International Tea Expo was hosted in the venue. It featured 1,700-plus tea merchandisers from 20 provinces in China and 47 countries from Asia, South America and Africa.

The expo organizers announced that Xiaoshan District would be the permanent site for this event.

To date, around 30 organizations have signed contracts with the center. About 10 percent of them are international conferences. The 2017 National University Games, 14th FINA World Swimming Championships and the 2022 Asian Games will give a higher profile to Xiaoshan’s MICE industry.

“A series of big events will be held in Xiaoshan. The cluster effect of MICE industry will soon be reflected in this district and definitely attract more and more investors,” Luo added.

The plentiful achievements have helped spread Hangzhou’s image around the world. The government, encouraged by the result, has accelerated plans to further develop the MICE industry. The fair is one of the attempts to boost development.

Last year, the fair attracted more than 250,000 people and the trade volume was 820 million yuan (US$120 million). Around 3,498 projects were transacted during that period and event planners from 19 countries and regions sought cooperation ties with Hangzhou-based companies.

In addition to large-scale conferences, last month, the city government invited a group of industry leaders to experience the upgraded hotels, exhibition halls, infrastructure and transportation to promote MICE industry.

Meanwhile, the government has also emphasized on building its market brand. Last November, Hangzhou launched its MICE destination brand, Summit Hangzhou, with the slogan “Inspiring new connections.”

MICE industry is considered the high-end part of the tourism industry.

In order to take advantage of an array of tourist attractions, Hangzhou has designed a batch of MICE products to meet the market demand. The government has created new tourism routes, as well as new theme packages based on different themes.

Recently, Hangzhou Tourism Commission announced the top 10 night attractions in the city after eight months of voting by more than 100,000 people. It is considered a new attempt to expand the tourism market and promote MICE industry.

According to the survey of International Congress and Convention Association, Hangzhou now tops event planners choice for various international summits, seminars, meetings and forums. It is listed as the third best conference and exhibition city on the Chinese mainland after Beijing and Shanghai.




 

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