SZ building itself into city of conventions and exhibitions

Visitors stroll through the first “New China Chic•New Creativity•New Consumption” Cultural Exhibition that was held last week at the Shenzhen Convention and Exhibition Center in Futian. Liu Xudong

Riding the momentum of its convention and exhibition sector’s strong recovery this year, Shenzhen is planning to further develop this sector so as to become an internationally renowned city for conventions and exhibitions.

The exhibition sector has been one of the pillar industries of Shenzhen. The total areas of exhibitions taking place in Shenzhen in 2022 totaled 6.02 million square meters, accounting for 10.8 percent of the country’s total, up 10.7 percent from a year earlier, and ranking first among Chinese cities. That year, Shenzhen hosted 121 exhibitions, raking third nationwide.

Since the beginning of this year, Shenzhen’s convention and exhibition industry has recovered strongly, with the number of exhibitions having doubled, driving growth of related industries.

In the first seven months of this year, the Shenzhen World Exhibition and Convention Center, the largest exhibition venue in the city, hosted 37 fairs totaling 2.68 million square meters. The center, located in Bao’an District, is scheduled to host 42 more fairs this year, with a total exhibition area of 2.63 million square meters. Among the fairs to come, there will be nine large-scale ones, each with an exhibition area greater than 100,000 square meters. Other venues, such as the Shenzhen Convention and Exhibition Center in Futian District and the Yanzi Lake Exhibition Center in Pingshan District, have also been fully booked for the rest of the year.

Shenzhen aims to build itself into an international consumption center by 2025, and a city of conventions and exhibitions will take shape by then, with the total exhibition area in the city exceeding 11 million square meters and three to five global top 100 exhibition companies to be either established in the city or introduced to the city, according to Shenzhen’s 14th five-year plan.

Towards that goal, the city plans to foster the third exhibition cluster center – the Shenzhen Science and Technology Exhibition Center – in addition to the Shenzhen Convention and Exhibition Center and the Shenzhen World Exhibition and Convention Center. The new center, located in the Bantian Subdistrict in Longgang District, will cover an area of 320,300 square meters.

The second phase of the Shenzhen World Exhibition and Convention Center, which will have an exhibition area of no less than 120,000 square meters, is also under planning. Upon completion, the exhibition area of the Shenzhen World Exhibition and Convention Center will exceed 500,000 square meters, becoming one of the largest exhibition centers in the world.

Supporting facilities around the exhibition centers are also on a fast track of development. Four of the 15 high-end hotels that are being planned near the Shenzhen World Exhibition and Convention Center are five-star ones and the remaining 11 are four-star ones. Two more five-star hotels are also being planned.