Expo venues in HCM City nearly fully booked till end-2019

Thuong My An, general director of the Saigon Exhibition and Convention Joint Venture Co., Ltd, owner of the Saigon Exhibition and Convention Center (SECC) in central Phu My Hung, District 7, said SECC will only be available for booking during the final week of the year. Meanwhile, event schedules for next year are full already, except for several weeks in January and February.

An added that SECC company is in negotiations with some clients to organize fashion shows at the end of the year. For 2019, a few clients have yet to make reservations, as they are reportedly considering the contents of their events.

Among the trade show and exhibition organizers, up to 60% are foreign enterprises. In addition, event scales are becoming larger. Some organizers, for instance, not only set up booths covering all the 8,800 square meters of the center’s inner floor space, but also rented additional areas outside, raising the total exhibition area to 23,000 square meters.

Aside from the expanding scale, SECC company has reported a wider variety in event types being scheduled. In particular, organizers have diversified show topics to include tourism, fashion, automobile, footwear, machinery, hi-tech agriculture or food and beverage.

Also, the demand for hosting trade shows and expos is rapidly growing. Many of the events are held annually. Additionally, the rebooking ratio of old customers remains high, at some 80-90%, An said, adding that SECC company has plans to expand the center in the near future.

Apart from SECC, the city is to build an international exhibition center, covering approximately 14 hectares of land, and fully providing services to serve formal meetings, events, and residences in the Thu Thiem New Urban Area. The center is slated to open in the next few years, aiming to cope with the current shortfall of expo areas.