ITMA ASIA+CITME 2008 expects multinational visitor attendance

Organizers of the first-ever combined ITMA ASIA + CITME textile machinery show are aiming for a multinational event – with large numbers of trade buyers from the key textile-producing nations across the whole of Asia among the expected 100,000 visitors.

The exhibition, to be held in Shanghai from July 27 to 31 this year, will attract a massive audience from China itself, as delegates from other textile manufacturing countries to view latest machinery and technology from more than 1,000 exhibitors.

There are already signs of strong interest from visitors throughout the Asian region, as online pre-registrations and group bookings from international textile organizations start to stream in. To attract even more buyers to the show an intensive promotional campaign to spread message to many key countries has already started.

“We are confident that we will see a very significant level of visitors from all the major Asian countries,” says Maria Avery, Secretary General of CEMATEX, “and we are keen to develop this aspect of the exhibition to maximize the benefits of the new combined-show concept for both exhibitors and visitors.”

CEMATEX, the European Committee of Textile Machinery Manufacturers, is joint owner of ITMA ASIA + CITME 2008 together with a Chinese consortium made up of CCPIT (Sub-council of Textile Industry, China Council for the Promotion of International Trade), CTMA (China Textile Machinery Association), and CIEC (China International Exhibition Centre Group Corporation).

ITMA ASIA + CITME 2008 will fill all the halls of the Shanghai New International Exhibition Centre (SNIEC) - more than 126,500 square meters - and with all stand space now sold out, it will be the biggest textile machinery exhibition ever to be staged in China. It will, like the previous ITMA ASIA and CITME shows, cover the full range of textile machinery and accessories, from spinning to finishing.

The pan-Asia appeal of the exhibition will build on the success of the two previous ITMA ASIA events, in Singapore in 2001 and 2005, as well as the CITME shows, the most recent of which, in 2006, attracted an estimated 10% of its 35,000 visitors from outside the People’s Republic of China.

Says a CIEC spokesperson Anne Zheng, “The multinational visitor profile illustrates the already wide-ranging acknowledgement of the value of the ITMA ASIA + CITME 2008 concept. It is also important to note that pre-registered visitors will enjoy 40% discount off the normal ticket price.”

Visitor promotion gears up

A series of promotional activities by the show organizer, beginning with a roadshow which takes in eight cities in India: Coimbatore, Erode, Tirupur, Madurai, Mumbai, Surat, Ahmedabad and Ludhiana. This will be followed by marketing campaigns at textile shows in Bangladesh, Pakistan, Indonesia and Vietnam. Supporting press conferences are planned at the Indonesian event, in Bandung, and in Ho Chi Minh City for the Vietnamese show, both during April.

Several textile representative bodies have already notified the Organizers that they will bring sizeable delegations. Among these are: Bangladesh Textile Mills Association, Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association, Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association, Vietnam Textile and Apparel Administration Board of the Ministry of Trade of Vietnam and the All Pakistan Textile Mills Association. Groups from other countries, such as Thailand and Korea, are expected to join that list shortly.