Although China’s borders are now wide open, ILTM will no longer be holding its China edition in the foreseeable future. It will instead be focusing on the ILTM Asia-Pacific show based in Singapore.
“We’ve made the decision not to do China anymore at this point in time. The reason for this is because there is only so much budget to go around from the suppliers that come to ILTM. If we’ve got two shows in the same region, that budget is spread quite thin,” Alison Gilmore, portfolio director for ILTM Worldwide with RX Global, told TTG Asia.
She pointed out that the whole cost of doing business at an ILTM trade show is not limited to just a participation fee. Exhibitors have to fork out money for beautiful booths, air tickets, accommodation and food.
“China was a great show, and we loved being there, but I think we need to make sure that we cover a bigger percentage of the Asia-Pacific region, and we can do that here in Singapore. We used to have an ILTM in Japan too,” she added.
Gilmore noted that every supplier would have different target markets, and being able to access other markets easily from Singapore is a plus point, as not everyone may want the China market.
This approach may well be the right one, as ILTM Asia Pacific 2023 draws strong participation, with floor size back to 2019’s levels.
