Inside Asian Gaming

16 convention centres had doubled to US$2.4 billion annually, increasing convention space by over 50% since 1990. There are now more than 72 major convention centres in the US serving a mainly domestic market of 302.7 million people. By contrast, China has only a handful of such facilities for a population of 1.3 billion. The Brookings report claimed that be- tween 1999 and 2003, four of the ‘Big Five’ events in the US (including COMDEX) saw falls in exhibit space, with the percentage change averaging 37.6%. It also said all five events lost attendance, with three having lost more than 20% since 1999, as seen in the table above. It’s clear that as any market gets crowded, some consolidation of capacity is likely—es- pecially among less popular products. In late August, the Canadian Broadcasting Compa- ny reported that Gatineau, a city of 250,000 in Quebec, Canada, had closed its conference centre. It had been operating at only 25% ca- pacity,and had been losingmoney ever since it opened in 1981. In 2006, it racked up a defi- cit of C$600,000. There’s no doubt also that the Brookings report on US trade shows was coming off the back of an international slowdown in busi- ness after the 9/11 attacks.A survey by Trade- show Week though—the leading publisher of information for the industry in the US— suggested the US attendance trend contin- ued on a downward curve in 2004, dropping 4.5%. In 2005 however, the paper reported that figures for rented space, attendance and exhibitors all showed positive growth. In re- sponse to Brookings’ claims, the US-based Convention Industry Council said its com- missioned research indicated professional attendance at US exhibitions had fallen only 2.9% between 2000 and 2003. Brookings did however highlight one of the difficulties of assessing the economic im- Event Floor space (sq. ft) Percent Attendance Percent 1999 2003 Change 1999 2003 Change CONEXPO* 1,732,002 1,845,808 6.57% 101,261 80,054 -20.94% Super Show 1,388,053 797,390 -42.55% 65,495 62,622 -4.39% Hardware Show 1,300,000 459,000 -64.69% 67,643 27,569 -59.24% ICUEE** 1,116,835 1,113,881 -0.26% 8,201 7,413 -9.61% COMDEX 1,155,000 150,000 -87.01% 200,000 39,229 -80.39% * CONEXPO is held every three years. The most recent data is for 2002. ** International Construction & Utility Equipment Expo Source: Tradeshow Week “200” Directory for 2000, 2003, 2004 Major Tradeshow Performance Everyone claims of course that lots of hard work and networking gets done at con- ferences and conventions, but speak to most buyers at most Asian trade shows and they will tell you the majority of their work has al- ready been done via e-mail and Skype before they get anywhere near the exhibition hall. The reality for most people most of the time, is that these events are a change of scene from the grind of normal business. This is why trade bodies choose to hold conventions in places such as Las Vegas and Hong Kong’s Wanchai district, and not in Ak- ron Ohio (the birthplace of Alcoholics Anony- mous), Urumqi (one of China’s most polluted cities) or Basingstoke (a UK townwith a seem- ingly endless collection of roundabouts and a greater density of CCTV cameras than New York City). So far Chinese consumers have shown an inclination to follow most western consumer habits, and conventions fever is likely to grip them just as strongly, especially when the setting is Macau, a gambling town on their doorstep. There are some parallels between the conventions industry and the modern fast food industry. Both are American inventions. Both are responses to major social and eco- nomic changes. In the case of conventions, it was the advent of cheap air travel and standardised good quality hotel chains. In the case of fast food it was the retreat of the nuclear family and formal meal times. Both industries were so successful at selling that they saturated their home markets and are now looking for new territories to conquer. Seeking new markets Mr Adelson is a wily operator. He made his original fortune from the hugely success- ful COMDEX computer trade shows in the US, but in 1995 sold out his interest to a Japanese company at the peak of the US market. He understands that the US convention market is mature but that the Asian market still has a long way to go. In 2005, the Washington D.C.-based pub- lic policy body the Brookings Institution pub- lished a controversial report called: ‘Space Available: The Realities of Convention Centers as Economic Development Strategies’. The re- port suggested supply in convention space for the US market was outstripping demand because so many state and city governments had jumped on the bandwagon, seeing the building of conference facilities as a license to print money. The report suggested that in the previ- ous decade, public capital spending on US Banquest hall at Venetian Macao