Shanghai World Expo 2010

What will be the legacy?

By hosting the 2010 World Expo, China - and Shanghai - grab the global limelight in the next few years. This case

study shows the size and status of the grand-scale international event and what it means for China to

successfully host and stage this, as well as the branding, image and future potential of China as a MICE destination.

Roy GraffChinaContact

The Goal

The Chinese Government will go to great lengths to make Expo 2010 Shanghai China a special event that carries on traditions and opens a new vista into the future.

Our motto is: "Keeping in mind the next 60 years' development while preparing for the six months'

Exposition."

We count on the continuing attention, support and participation of all the peace-loving countries.

History of the Expo• First ‘Great Exhibition’ held in Crystal

Palace, Hyde Park in 1851

• At Expo 2000 Hanover, where countries created their own architecture, the average pavilion investment was around €13 million.

• Evolution of World Fair:

o Industrialization (1851–1938)

o Cultural exchange (1939–1991)

o Nation branding (1992–present)

Notable Expo Legacies

• 1851 - Crystal Palace, London (burned in 1936)

• 1880 - Royal Exhibition Building, Melbourne (World Heritage listed)

• 1889 - Eiffel Tower, Paris

• 1906 - Aquarium, Milan

• 1962 - Space Needle, Seattle

• 1998 - Expo buildings in Lisbon, Portugal

• Many themed rides have been moved to Disneyland and Disney World.

Benefits• 70 million expected visitors, three times more

than the Hanover Fair in 2000.

• 186 countries and 47 international organizations have confirmed participation to date.

• (5% of total will be foreign; in 2008, 5.26 million foreigners visited Shanghai)

• Dutch pavilion at Hannover Expo 2000 research estimated the pavilion (which cost around € 35 million) generated around € 350 million of potential revenues for the Dutch economy.

Expo and Global Recession

• Cost increases with currency exchange rate

• Many countries heavily in debt

• USA Pavillion update???

• Travel expenditure down

Long Lasting Benefits• Beijing 2008 Olympics confirmed China’s credibility at large scale events.

• Contributing to improvements in service quality, communication and multi-cultural awareness.

• Opportunity for more countries to engage China over six months. Mainly targeting Chinese people as consumers.

• Stimulating further investment in convention venues and hotels, road improvements and transport upgrades (role model for other Chinese cities)

• Giving Shanghai an edge to compensate for cost increases.

• Media focus on China/Shanghai raises interest for visitors, both leisure and business.

• Raising the standards of the meetings and events sector.

• Awareness of global issues

Other Effects• As with Olympics, the Expo may lead to displacement of other events and crowding out due to higher costs.

• Event of this scale interferes with normal business operations, leading to cancellation or change of regular annual events.

• Growth in capacity is biased towards luxury product leading to over-capacity in this segment and under capacity in budget accommodation.

• Increasing cost pushes domestic meetings to other cities (benefit to cities around Shanghai)

Conclusion Shanghai is a city that already enjoys a favourable reputation for meetings and events. The World Expo enhances and augments this image. Important to leave a number of buildings with strong legacy architecture for the future to attract more visitors after the Expo. Chinese who are involved in Expo will be exposed to a level of execution which is not normally seen in China. Over 6 months, many employees and visitors will be involved. Helping to meet international standards (eg. wifi, smoking, insurance) Shanghai is learning about PR and Branding. Major cities in China need to create Convention & Tourism Bureaus to stimulate demand and offer high-standard service. Marketing and PR still needs more improvements.

For more information

• info@chinacontact.org

• UK +44 20 3239 9688 China +86 1351 1013224

• Website: www.chinacontact.org

• Network: network.chinacontact.org (Expo2010 group)

• twitter.com/chinacontact

• www.china-advisers-network.com

• Twitter: #expo2010

Shanghai World Expo 2010

What will be the legacy?Roy Graff

ChinaContact