The exhibition business in Shanghai is expecting a strong rebound as preliminary statistics show a total of 177 exhibitions will be staged here in the latter half of this year.
So far, the emergency notice on the temporary suspension of exhibitions, which was imposed late April in response to the prevention of the severe acute respiratory syndrome, has been lifted, indicating an overall resumption of the exhibition business in the city.
The most eye-catching on the list is an international purchasing fair, which is scheduled in late July, to be attended by world giants like General Electric, General Motors, Wal-mart and Carrefour.
According to Pan Longqing, director of the municipal economic and trade commission, necessary sanitary efforts like disinfectionand monitoring body temperatures of participants will be emphasized in each and every exhibition.
Among the 177 exhibitions, up by 64 percent year-on-year, 66 had been postponed from the first half of the year because of the outbreak of the SARS epidemic, and the other 111 remained as scheduled.
Last year, Shanghai hosted a total of 262 exhibitions, comparedwith only 50 in 1990.
(Xinhua News Agency June 30, 2003)
