This round of epidemic, with Nanjing Lukou International Airport as the eye of the storm, has triggered multiple transmission centers such as Zhangjiajie and Changde, continuously expanding the chain of epidemic transmission. Since the first confirmed case appeared in Nanjing on July 20th, only 15 days have passed, and the epidemic has blossomed in multiple parts of the country, with a fierce momentum.
At present, it has spread to at least 15 provinces and 31 cities, including Sichuan, Guangdong, Anhui, Liaoning, Beijing, Hunan, Ningxia, Hubei, Shandong, Hainan, Fujian and other provinces. As of 11:00 on August 3rd, there are 4 high-risk areas and 121 medium risk areas in China.
The exhibition activities in these places are also facing another major test since the COVID-19 in early 2020. List the prevention and control requirements related to exhibitions in multiple provinces and cities in China as follows:
Nanjing: According to professionals in the exhibition industry in Nanjing, the exhibition activities in August and September will be postponed.
Hunan: According to the requirements of epidemic prevention and control, all exhibitions originally scheduled to be held in Changsha in August have been suspended.
Henan: The Office of the Leading Group for the Prevention and Control of COVID-19 in Zhengzhou issued a notice on July 31, requiring that: reduce the number of people gathering, stop unnecessary gathering activities, and in principle, do not hold large-scale mass activities.
Beijing: In the afternoon of August 1, at the press conference on the prevention and control of COVID-19 in Beijing, it was required to strictly control the gathering activities such as commercial performances, conferences and training. All types of performing arts institutions should control large-scale commercial performance activities, reduce the number and scale of various offline performance activities, strictly control instantaneous traffic, maintain a safe distance throughout the process, and implement the requirements of “who hosts, who is responsible” and “who approves, who is responsible”. Strictly implement the epidemic prevention and control requirements for personnel attending gatherings such as conferences and training in Beijing, and minimize the risk of personnel mobility and gatherings.
Shanghai: The exhibition originally scheduled to be held in August has been postponed and announced.
Xi’an: On July 30, at the press conference on the prevention and control of COVID-19 in Shaanxi Province, it was required to strictly control the gathering meeting activities. In principle, all levels, departments, industries, and units will no longer hold or host various offline large-scale conferences and events.
Sichuan: The second Convenient Fast Food Industry Conference, originally scheduled to be held in Chengdu on July 29-30, has been postponed.
Yunnan: In accordance with the requirements of the “Urgent Notice of the General Office of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism on Further Improving the Epidemic Prevention and Control Work in the Cultural and Tourism Industry”, large-scale performance events will be strictly controlled according to the principle of “no unnecessary events and whoever hosts, is responsible”.
Xiamen: On July 30, the Headquarters of Xiamen in Response to the COVID-19 requested that public activities such as garden tours, lantern fairs, temple fairs, flower fairs, fairs, folk customs, folk beliefs, and artistic performances be suspended throughout the city; Suspend all large-scale group gatherings.
Zhejiang: It is understood that some organizers and exhibition halls who originally planned to hold events in Hangzhou in August have communicated and hope to postpone the event. On August 1st, the Huzhou Center for Disease Control and Prevention requested that large-scale conferences and gatherings of people should not be held unless necessary in the near future.
According to incomplete statistics, as of August 1, 2021, a total of 31 provinces (autonomous regions, municipalities directly under the central government) in China have issued travel reminders for epidemic prevention and control: “Do not leave the province or city unless necessary” or “reduce leaving the province or city”. Under such regulations, even if recent exhibition events can be held, it will seriously affect the attendance of exhibitors and visitors. Therefore, many host organizations in different regions have to announce the postponement of events originally scheduled for August.
Under the epidemic, the exhibition industry should pay attention to the following response strategies
1. Timely stop losses, carry out reasonable and legal handling of epidemic emergencies, do a good job in aftermath, and maintain good customer relationships.
2. Practice hard, make full use of network resources and information technology, conduct online training, plan and implement online exhibition activities, and explore new spaces for digital exhibitions.
3. Seize the opportunity, conduct in-depth research on the new changes and opportunities brought about by the epidemic, develop new growth points after the end of the epidemic, explore innovative organizational forms of enterprises, and comprehensively enhance the core competitiveness of enterprises.
As an exhibition service industry serving enterprises, on the one hand, it needs to hone internal strength, turn pressure into a driving force for transformation and upgrading, and at the same time strengthen public opinion monitoring, closely monitor market trends, pay attention to the dynamics of peers and customers, and pay attention to the market trends of the industry’s upstream and downstream supply chains. By doing so, we can be prepared for complex and turbulent market environments and gain insights into opportunities. For exhibitions that are about to be postponed or have already been confirmed, while coordinating and organizing exhibitors, it is necessary to increase the marketing and promotion efforts of the exhibition, actively guide more buyers to participate, and continuously improve exhibitor satisfaction and brand image through practical actions and results.
We believe that after experiencing this epidemic, the exhibition ecosystem will inevitably have a window of opportunity for self recovery and competition enhancement, because the value of the exhibition industry to the real economy is beyond doubt, and all the accumulated demand for exhibitors and visitors from enterprises also needs to be released in the short term.
Historical experience constantly proves that opportunities will ultimately be left to those with resources, strength, ideas, and actions.
