HONGKONG – Asia’s premier food and hotel tradeshow, HOFEX 2007 - The 12th Asian International Exhibition of Food & Drink, Hotel, Restaurant & Foodservice Equipment, Supplies & Services, ended to an all-rounded acclamations from exhibitors, visitors and supporting organisations on 16th May 2007.
HOFEX 2007 opened to a rousing live band, Scottish pipers, and over 200 industry VIPs. The magnificent Opening Ceremony was officiated by Mr Stephen Ip, GBS, JP, Secretary for Economic Development and Labour of the HKSAR Government, Mr James Tien, GBS, JP, Chairman of the Hong Kong Tourism Board, Mr Mark Lettenbichler, Chairman of the Hong Kong Hotels Association and Mr Daniel Cheung, General Manager of Hong Kong Exhibition Services Limited – Organiser of HOFEX 2007.
With 2 main themes “Foodservice Equipment & Hospitality Supplies” and “Food & Drink” indwelled in the four halls of the Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre, an exhibition area of over 35,000sqm was occupied by this extravaganza.
This edition, in its 20 years history, was the largest ever – in terms of venue size and the number of visitorship. The international coverage of both the exhibit profiles and buyer delegations - played a major contribution to the overall success of the 2007 show. Agreed by many exhibitors that the overall size of the show been growing international and among one of the exhibitors said “We have been exhibiting with HOFEX for years. I’m very satisfied with the quantity and quality of the trade buyers this year, which is much higher than my expectation. It was great to have met many international hotel buyers and end users,” said by Mr Zhang Shu Feng, China National Sales Manager / Foodservice Marketing Manager, Libbey Glassware (China) Co Ltd. Primarily serving as a trading platform, Mr Michael Lu, HATCO mentioned that HOFEX provides an excellent opportunity “to meet international guests who come to Hong Kong particularly for HOFEX and to find new products.” He then said “After all, it is a great place to meet friends and distributors at HOFEX.”
In fact, HOFEX 2007 drew an overwhelming participation of 1,800 exhibiting companies from 42 countries and regions. On top of that, an ace record of 29,193 trade visitors was accounted for with 29.5% of them arrived from overseas.
“HOFEX is a very good show. The companies in our pavilion are very satisfied with the results. Visitor quality is very good, plus it’s not just regional but very international too. We had visitors from Australia, New Zealand, and even Chile. Organisation of the show is very good too – we liked the promotion and signage for Bavaria. We will be back in 2009 with a bigger pavilion,” spoke by Mr Bernhard Kiel, Manager Trade Fairs & Exhibitions Engineering Industries, Bayern International - Germany.
The Group Managing Director of Sino Group of Hotels – HK, Mr Nicholas Yim agreed
and said “I love the show layout. National Pavilions and specific areas such as Wine
& Spirits Square save me the hassle from searching around too much.”
“In general, it’s (HOFEX) been good opportunity to meet our distributing partners throughout Asia,” spoke by Mr David Marom, San Jamar “which is good and broad representation of our distribution channels to show good products.”
This impressive turnout affirmed the calibre and prominence of HOFEX as Simply The Best sourcing and networking platform for professionals in the food and hospitality industries in the region.
Concurrent events including the Hong Kong International Culinary Classic (HKICC), Regional Hotel General Managers Forum, Asian F&B Forum as well as the Asian Open Cup – Creative Classic & Bartending Flair at the show also received pronounced recognition and commendations from all participants including speakers, judges, delegates, competitors and more. An encore of these events was requested by leading players of the industry in the next edition of HOFEX as much conducive networking environment and an awesome platform for experience sharing were created.
The finale of HOFEX 2007 kicked off preparations for HOFEX 2009 which will be held 6-9 May 2009 at the Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre.
