Taiwan's Computex set to draw record crowds
Published: 20 Jun 2003 07:55 BST
Early signs indicate that Computex Taipei 2003 in September will draw record crowds, much to the relief of organisers who had postponed the June show due to the Sars scare.
An official from the China External Trade Development Council (CETRA), the organiser of this trade show, has confirmed that booth bookings for the show's existing venue and a yet-to-be completed exhibition hall are already full, reported news daily The Taipei Times.
CETRA spokesman Nick Chang said in the report the added showground is scheduled for completion in September and will increase the exhibition space by 300 booths.
These comments stand in stark contrast to earlier doubts that the show's recent postponement would cause a drastic drop in the number of overseas visitors.
Computex was meant to take place this month but was rescheduled to 22-26 September in the wake of the Sars (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) outbreak.
"Some 2,500 booths in four exhibition halls of the Taipei World Trade Center have sold out," Chang was quoting as saying.
While some firms could not make it for the revised dates, companies on the waiting list quickly took up their vacancies, the report said. To date, 1,100 exhibitors have registered for the show.
The anticipated boom is also partly helped by recent removal of Taiwan from the World Health Organization (WHO)'s travel advisory list. Chang said in the report foreign visitors are now keen to attend the tradeshow after the WHO announcement.
The current law which requires visitors from Hong Kong and China to undergo a compulsory 10-day quarantine should also be abolished by September with no impact on visitor numbers, he said in the report.
Other major Asian tradeshows planned for this year however, shared a different fate.
CommunicAsia, an Asian technology tradeshow to be held in Singapore this month, was cancelled due to Sars, while a series of smaller regional events have also been canned.
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