2008 News Releases

Hong Kong Jewellery & Watch Fair confirms its position as Asia’s leading event for the jewellery industry

03 October

United Business Media Limited today provides the following information regarding the recent performance of one of its largest tradeshows, the September Hong Kong Jewellery & Watch Fair. The Fair is largest jewellery show in Asia and is the flagship event of CMP Asia’s 14 event portfolio serving the jewellery community. The portfolio’s other events take place across Asia, in Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Shanghai, Tokyo, Hyderabad and Chennai.

The September Hong Kong Jewellery & Watch Fair 2008 took place from 15 to 21 September and attracted more than 2,600 exhibitors who occupied around 50,000 square metres of exhibition space. The Fair drew more than 37,000 visitors from 133 countries. The number of overseas visitors rose by 2% with growing visitor numbers from expanding jewellery markets such as the Middle East, the Russian Federation and South America, as well as from traditional jewellery trading countries. Overseas visitors comprise more than 60% of the Fair’s attendees. Contrary to expectations that global economic uncertainty would reduce visitor numbers, overall attendee numbers declined only marginally by 1.69%, attributable principally to fewer visitors from Hong Kong and the United States. (For more detailed information, see Notes to Editors).

Responding to growing demand for space at the Fair from both existing exhibitors and new companies, this year CMP Asia successfully reorganised the Fair’s floor space into sector-specific areas, distributed across two venues. This reorganisation will facilitate the show’s continued long-term growth and development as it meets the changing needs of the industry’s buyers and sellers. Research conducted at this year’s event suggests demand for exhibitor space at the 2009 Fair remains strong:

• 75% of existing fine jewellery exhibitors wish to expand their booth space by at least 50%
• Exhibitors from Thailand, mostly from the gemstone industry, would rise from the current 220 exhibitors to more than 400 if floor space was available
• Over 200 diamond companies have joined a waiting list for exhibitor space at the show; the diamond pavilion at the 2009 Fair will be the industry’s largest showcase ever
• Japanese exhibitors, predominantly pearl companies, wish to expand their exhibitor space by more than 20%.

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Contacts

Notes to Editors

1. About United Business Media

United Business Media is a leading global business media company. We inform markets and bring the world’s buyers and sellers together at events, online, in print, and with the information they need to do business successfully. We focus on serving professional commercial communities, from doctors to game developers, from journalists to jewellery traders, from farmers to pharmacists around the world. Our 5,000 staff in more than 30 countries are organised into specialist teams that serve these communities, helping them to do business and their markets to work effectively and efficiently. For more information, go to www.unitedbusinessmedia.com.

2. Visitor numbers analysis

Visitor number growth by country		Visitor attendance by continent and region
Country	% Increase
Belgium	17
Brazil	25
Canada	11
China	28
France	2
India	12
Israel	52
Italy	10
Russian Federation	11
Switzerland	15
Turkey	2

3. Further information on the Hong Kong Jewellery & Watch Fair 2009

Next year’s Fair will take place as follows:

AsiaWorld-Expo - 21 to 25 September 2009
Diamonds, Pearls, Gemstones and Technology, Packaging & Related Services

Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre - 23 to 27 September 2009
100% Fine Finished Jewellery

For more details on CMP Asia’s jewellery fairs, please go to www.JewelleryNetAsia.com.

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