|
The much anticipated AsiaWorld-Expo,
Hong Kong’s largest
exhibition and events complex located at the Hong Kong International
Airport, was opened Wednesday by the Hong Kong SAR Chief Executive Mr Donald
Tsang and senior representatives of the shareholding and management
companies.
 The
HK$2.35 billion (US$300 million) state-of-the-art facility, which is one of
the largest in the region, is designed to further enhance Hong Kong’s
position as a leading exhibition and events hub.
At the opening ceremony, Mr Tsang said that this new addition to Hong
Kong’s infrastructure was one of the many initiatives which the Government
had been spearheading in recent years.
Mr Tsang said, “When we adopted the brandname ‘Asia’s World City’ for
Hong Kong a few years ago, it was intended to be partly descriptive and
partly aspirational. We have since been working hard to live up to the
promise of being a premier city in the region and beyond. With the opening
of AsiaWorld-Expo, we have turned another small part of our vision into
reality.”
“One major role of Hong Kong is to serve as a regional hub and a base for
international and, increasingly, Mainland companies to manage their business
operations in East Asia. A complementary role is to serve as a two-way
springboard: for companies from around the world wishing to access the
Mainland of China, in
particular the Pearl River Delta, and for Mainland companies to launch
themselves into the international marketplace.
“It is no coincidence that many of the exhibitions to be held here in the
coming years are to show off Chinese goods and services to the world. Others
will show the world’s best products to an increasingly sophisticated and
substantial market in the Mainland,” he said.
Mr Tsang also pointed out that AsiaWorld-Expo exemplified the partnership
between the public sector and the private sector. He said, “The Government
is putting a substantial amount of equity in recognition that it is our
responsibility to provide the infrastructure to enable the economy to
flourish and grow. The private sector has also played a critical role in
ensuring the success of the project.”
As well as being one of the largest and most high tech facilities in the
world, the new centre is one of the most conveniently located exhibition and
events venues, and the only one in the world that combines full integration
with a busy international airport and the service of an in-venue railway
station. Visitors to AsiaWorld-Expo can literally walk straight from the
exhibition halls to the platform of the Airport Express train and connect to
anywhere in Hong Kong served by the Mass Transit Railway (MTR).
The venue provides 70,000 square metres of rentable space, with 10
state-of-the-art ground level exhibition and events halls, including the
13,500-seat AsiaWorld-Arena, the biggest purpose-built indoor seated
entertainment arena in Hong Kong. The AsiaWorld-Arena has been designed to
host sophisticated world-class events ranging from mega-superstar concerts
to large scale sporting and entertainment extravaganzas.
Mr Mike Rowse, Chairman of AsiaWorld-Expo, emphasised the importance of
AsiaWorld-Expo to Hong Kong’s appeal as a regional centre. He said, “Today
starts a new chapter in the development of AsiaWorld-Expo. Entering the
operation phase, the emphasis of our work switches to filling the Centre
with new events and giving our customers world-class service. The
substantial bookings for AsiaWorld-Expo so far and favourable projections
for the future will place Hong Kong even more firmly at the forefront of the
conference, exhibition and event industry in Asia,”
“AsiaWorld-Expo has already established an impressive event calendar with
more than 30 major international exhibitions and events scheduled for 2006.
These events are virtually all firsts to the city and the majority of them
are recurring events for subsequent years. These events are estimated to
bring approximately HK$4 billion of economic benefits to Hong Kong in our
first year of operation,” said Mr Nicolas Borit, Chief Executive Officer of
AsiaWorld-Expo Management Limited.
Built within a multi-modal transportation hub, AsiaWorld-Expo is just a
few minutes’ stroll or a one minute train ride from the Hong Kong
International Airport. This makes AsiaWorld-Expo easily accessible to the 35
million international travellers a year who arrive in Hong Kong aboard some
5,000 flights a week from 144 international destinations. Through its
integration with the Airport, AsiaWorld-Expo is within 5 hours’ flying time
of half the world’s population, and through the comprehensive road network
and cross boundary bus services, it is less than 90 minutes’ reach from key
cities in the fast growing Pearl River Delta Region, making it an extremely
valuable business platform for Hong Kong, the Mainland of China and the rest
of the world.
|
