Meeting News - June 16, 2008 - (Page 32) International: Special Report By Christopher Squire Edited by William Ng william.ng@nielsen.com China Meetings Take Hits in Politically Charged Olympic Year Beijing—From the snowstorm that crippled much of the western part of the country in January, to the violence in Tibet, to the recent devasttating earthquake in Sichuan, the central Chinese government has had a trying time this year as the host of the 2008 Summer Olympics. Shortly after the disturbances in Tibet in March, visa regulations for foreigners entering China became more stringent and confusing, and Beijing has said that the tighter regulations will continue until after the Olympics. For meeting attendees from the U.S. and Europe, the new visa regulations should not be a problem. Applicants for a business visa need to have a hotel reservation, return ticket to his or her home country, and an invitation from a legitimate Chinese company—all things that any exhibitor or attendee should be able to acquire easily. “We plan 12 to 14 different events a year in China, and we’ve not had any problem with exhibitors getting visas,” said Alexander Glos, CEO of Beijing-based event organizer i2i Group. “I think the people having the most trouble with visas are those who are living in China and trying to stay through the Olympic period.” But a couple of trade shows have taken big hits this year. In Guangzhou, the China Import and Export Fair, also known as the Canton Trade Fair, suffered a huge drop in attendance at its show in April this year compared to 2007. One of the most important international shows in China, it went from 395,000 attendees to 192,000. A spokesperson for the exhibition’s organizer declined to share her name or make any comments on the attendance dip, instead directing reporters to the show’s press releases posted online. None of the press releases 32 MeetingNews June 16, 2008 Pro-Tibetan supporters rally in Tokyo in early May. Tensions between China and Tibet may have dissuaded attendees, worried about their safety, from participating in meetings in China this year. of Anthropological and Ethnological lem and make decisions.” addressed attendance issues. In fact, Sciences (IUAES), based at Leiden Though Nas and the organization one release was titled:“Officials note University in the Netherlands, was to are not saying much, an anonymous growth, impact of fair.” have its biannual IUAES World Con- source involved in the biannual Glos speculated that the fair sufgress in Kunming (capital of Yunnan meeting said the cancellation was fered from perceptions that China province) in July. But the event was due to concerns that an anthropolowas unsafe in April after the riots in abruptly canceled in May. gy and ethnology conference would Tibet. Guangzhou is as far away A letter from the Chinese organiz- attract pro-Tibetan demonstrators. from Lhasa as Albuquerque is from ers simply said that they had While there seems to be some big Atlanta, but that may not be readily “encountered complex difficulties hiccups in international meetings in apparent to Westerners. China this year, Glos maintains that “People called me from Europe [that were] hard to resolve.” things in general are running as and the States asking if people were In response to an inquiry about smoothly as usual. rioting in the streets of Beijing,” Glos the reason for the cancellation, said. “China is actually functioning “We work with more than three IUAES secretary general Peter Nas hundred [non-Chinese] companies,” really well. The Chinese always keep only said, “It is of course a problem Glos said. “And, we’ve had no rolling along.” that the congress is postponed. The changes in how we get our exhibitors Still, another event was canceled executive council of IUAES is planinto China.” r altogether. The International Union ning a meeting to discuss the probwww.meetingnews.com Photo: AP/Photo/Kyodo http://www.meetingnews.com
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