Asia’s Leading Events Organiser has Gone from Strength to Strength

UBM Asia organises over 290 trade events and activities each year in Asia and has strengthened their portfolio through acquisition

The story began in 1994 when UBM acquired a local exhibition company which organised successful trade events in Hong Kong and the region. UBM set up their regional head office in the city and decided to expand their event business in Hong Kong, from Hong Kong. Nowadays, the company is running some of the largest shows of its kind in the world or Asia here, such as the Hong Kong Jewellery and Gem Fair, Cosmoprof, the largest cosmetic and beauty show in Asia, and the long established Asia Pacific Leather Fair – Leather & Materials+ & Fashion Access.

Sitting in the newly renovated office, Michael Duck, Executive Vice President recalled, “At the time when we first started, Hong Kong was the best place in the Asia Pacific region to run trade shows. There has always been free movement of capital, rule of law, simple taxation and for people coming from overseas, Hong Kong is a safe place to walk around. And all these advantages are still going on today.” In addition, the fantastic geographic location and professionalism of the trade events organisers easily makes Hong Kong the ideal destination for some of world’s biggest exhibitions such as electronics fair, gift fair; Asia’s largest entertainment expo, fashion fair; and financial and technology conferences.

UBM built its success on its professionalism, providing quality service and organising much targeted trade shows throughout the year with over 2 million quality exhibitors, visitors, professional buyers and conference delegates from all over the world. The shows they run attract international buyers to come to meet business partners, learn the latest trends and build stronger ties with the industries.

Recently, the company acquired AllWorld, a privately owned company that has been running a range of successful food and hotel, oil and gas and communications events in the ASEAN countries and Mainland China. “We hope to form a synergy and grow these businesses stronger and better in the region,” Duck said.

Other than high quality shows, Duck complimented that the first class exhibition space in Hong Kong operated by extremely well management complement the success of event businesses in the city. Also, under the one country two systems, Duck believes it allows the city to differentiate itself from other cities in China. “Hong Kong is part of China which can enjoy close collaboration with neighbouring Mainland cities in the Greater Bay Area. The Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge and other cross-boundary infrastructure will further strengthen Hong Kong as a default hub for the region, giving the city a direct catchment of over 68 million people.”

The Hong Kong regional office has a team of over 200 staff and 80 percent of them are local. Duck found Hong Kong people well educated with the positive working attitude and hardworking.