Serbian businessman Damir has been waiting for the third Central and Eastern European Countries Expo offline exhibition for nearly two years.
Although he maintained online contact with customers in China, he was never able to find a suitable agent. In this expo exhibition area, Damir put the "Find an agent" sign in a prominent position, waiting for business partners to come to the door.
In the two years that Damir was looking for, the Chinese market for some travel agencies in Central and Eastern Europe has undergone tremendous changes and is basically at a standstill. After some Eastern European countries were included in the pilot list of outbound tourism this year, travel agencies saw the dawn of industry recovery during the "May Day" holiday, so they wanted to seize the opportunity to "appear" at the expo.
Today, the Expo of Central and Eastern European Countries has become an important platform for trade docking, exchange and cooperation. Data show that since 2012, China's imports from Central and Eastern European countries have increased by an average of 9.2% per year. In the first quarter of this year, the trade volume between the two sides reached US$33.3 billion, an increase of 1.6% year-on-year. On May 17th, Yinpersim Finance came to the exhibition area of the expo to explore the new trend of trade between the two sides.
"Buy, buy, buy" was staged, and some exhibitors lacked skills
For the first time, the CEE exhibition area adopted the form of professional exhibition, gathering a number of good things such as agricultural food, wine, daily fashion, and intelligent manufacturing from Central and Eastern European countries. In addition, a service trade exhibition area has been set up, focusing on the tourism, culture and other customs and customs of Central and Eastern European countries.
The number of these exhibits exceeds 5,000 species. Among them, the plane that resembles a shark, the magic wall where you can interact with Hungarian culture by tapping the screen, the cultural market with a rich cultural atmosphere, and the indoor ski slope where you can experience skiing are all stops for visitors.
The Hungarian Pavilion is located at the entrance of the exhibition area, and visitors come and go to taste the variety of wines and come to taste "noble rot", white wine made from mold called "noble rot mold" attached to the grape skin. The Tokaj region of Hungary is one of the top producing regions for noble rot wines. "This is Hungary's 'national wine', and we brought about thirty or forty of them." Wang Ziying of Xiamen Wick Eurasia Import and Export Co., Ltd. introduced that the price of precious rotten wine products is 100 yuan or 1,000 yuan, mainly depending on the category.
Silver Persimmon Finance noticed that the front desk of the specialty agricultural food area was also surrounded by many citizens who were buying cereals, milk, candies and other goods. The "Cultural Market" in the Trade in Services Exhibition Area attracted a group of people to take photos with David Ape, pencil miniature sculptures, and art installations commemorating the 200th anniversary of Petofi's birth, and these markets were composed of booths from Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Bosnia and Herzegovina and other countries.
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Cultural Bazaar
"The pencil miniature sculpture was completed by Bosnian artist Jasenko Đorđević, and this exhibition can be said to be his debut in China." As one of the organizers of the market, Chen Tang, head of the Joint Laboratory of Digital Cultural Trade, said that there are three pencil miniature sculptures in the exhibition that can be sold, and the laboratory has been committed to promoting cultural exchanges and cooperation between China and foreign countries, and taking the opportunity of this expo, I also want everyone to know artists from Central and Eastern European countries.
During the exchange between Yinpersim Finance and Chen Tang, two people interjected and asked if they could bring the works of these artists to other exhibitions.
At this time, Damir, who was diagonally opposite the cultural market, was already busy with his daily fashion exhibition area, although there were two or three volunteers in the exhibition area, and friends who "shouted" to help. "Can this ring be cheaper?" "How much is this pair of earrings?" The jewelry brought by Damir was very popular, and from time to time there were visitors who asked for and bargained. Damir did not expect that the accessories he prepared in advance would be so popular, and the packaging bags were not prepared in advance in the exhibition area.
The tourism exhibition area is cold, and the outbound tour is still "waiting for the wind to come"
Compared with the "hot" exhibition areas such as food, daily fashion, and culture, the tourism exhibition area is a bit deserted, and occasionally scattered visitors come in to stroll around and ask about the situation.
It is worth noting that on the morning of the 17th, the person in charge of the booth of some travel agencies has disappeared, and only volunteers are "left" at the front desk. "This is the first time that the tourism exhibition area has participated in the Central and Eastern European Countries Expo, and we are also invited to participate in the exhibition." Ma Pengfei, director of Balkan Holidays China operation, said frankly that because it is not a professional tourism exhibition, the number of businessmen who come to inquire is indeed small, and most of them are citizens who have the intention of traveling abroad.
According to him, Balkan Holidays has set up a company in Beijing and can currently provide products for tourist routes in Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania and other countries.
"We mainly do channels, cooperate with airlines, and provide air tickets." Ma Pengfei sighed that due to the impact of the epidemic in previous years, the outbound tourism business was intermittent, and the company's original team of 100 people in China "survived" until only two people remained, and only began to recruit people one after another after the beginning of this year.
"In Zhejiang, our business focus is mainly Hangzhou, Ningbo is relatively small, and this exhibition can just expand local resources." Ma Pengfei said that now Central and Eastern European countries have become the "dark horse" of holiday outbound travel, and the most important thing for such exhibitions is to raise the brand awareness and let everyone understand. Although it was expected that the conversion rate of participating in the exhibition might not be ideal, Ma Pengfei's hostel decided to "make an appearance".
Zhang Jizhong (Zhang Jizhong of the Shanghai Representative Office of Kolenpak, Slovenia) also holds a similar view. He has been engaged in the outbound travel business for many years, and has been familiar with the famous attractions in Central and Eastern European countries, enthusiastically introducing the local beauty and cuisine to the teams and individuals who come to inquire about tourism products, such as Croatia, which became popular due to the shooting of "Game of Thrones".
"We mainly provide ground access services, and have cooperated with domestic platforms such as Ctrip and Fliggy, where tourists can find our travel agency's products." Zhang Jizhong said that the tourism business brand of Colon Park is "HAPPY TOUR", and the domestic market is mainly in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai. "After the list of outbound tourists came out this year, we have already received tour groups during the May Day holiday."
In Ma Pengfei's personal view, compared with 2019, the current "vitality" of the domestic tourism industry is probably only about half of the recovery. "Next, we will pay attention to relevant exhibitions in China and try to see them all." Ma Pengfei is eager to seize the "east wind" of tourism recovery.
In both directions, buyers are looking forward to introducing more products
Different from the "Buddhist lineage" of travel agencies for the conversion rate of the exhibition, as an "old friend" of the Central and Eastern European countries expo, Damir wants to gain reliable partners the most.
Damir came to Ningbo to participate in the exhibition in the first two sessions. At this edition, he was also named an excellent exhibitor. However, since entering the Chinese market in 2016, due to product packaging, design and other reasons, his market development road has not been smooth, and he has not been able to find suitable agents.
Goods brought by Damir
"In the first two years of the new crown epidemic, my customers in China could only contact online, and due to cultural, voice and other factors, there were some barriers to communication and it was also unstable." The most important consideration for Damir to choose to participate in this exhibition is to find a reliable partner. "I am still very optimistic about the Chinese market, I am full of confidence in this, and I want to find agents with factories."
In addition to Damir, the Wick Group, to which Wang Ziying's company belongs, also wants to use the expo to expand dealers in first- and second-tier cities and lay out a domestic sales network. "We also participate in every expo, and some time ago we also participated in the sugar and wine party in Chengdu." Wang Ziying said.
At the same time, buyers from all over the world are also looking for their favorite products. Li Qing (pseudonym), who manages a commercial street in Dalian, is carefully selecting from a Polish hand-painted ceramics booth. "There are fifty or sixty shops on the commercial street, and there are many types of goods to buy." Li Qing was very interested in the colorful ceramic utensils on the booth, "There is more food in the exhibition area, and there are relatively few such goods. ”
The flow of people in the exhibition hall on May 17
Liang Wenning, a buyer from Shenzhen, is a curator who has been responsible for Van Gogh's light and shadow immersion art exhibitions. "We also want to work with other curatorial companies to bring in more and more colorful artists." I heard that the Central and Eastern European Countries Expo had set up a cultural exhibition area, so I quickly bought a ticket and came to Ningbo to have a look. After walking around, Liang Wenning said that the harvest did not meet expectations. There are still relatively few works by artists, and I hope that more will be introduced in future exhibitions. ”