The ongoing Canton Fair serves as a name card for the city of Guangzhou. As the host city of China's largest trade fair, Guangzhou ranks third among Chinese cities in terms of competitiveness in the exhibition industry. The concepts of "Created in Guangzhou" and "Intelligent manufacturing in Guangzhou" have entered the world through the platform of the Canton Fair. In addition, the host site of Pazhou Island is prompting the coordinated development of exhibitions and internet industries, aiming to build an internet creative industry that generates annual revenue of over 100 billion yuan ($15.86 billion).

Exhibition industry

The Canton Fair has been held in Guangzhou for 61 years, making the city a steadfast host for exhibitions and an important hub for human resources, logistics, capital, and information.

According to an official of the Guangzhou municipal commission of commerce (GMCC), Guangzhou boasts a solid foundation for the exhibition industry and its total exhibition area last year ranked second among all Chinese cities. According to the statistic figures from the GMCC, in 2017, Guangzhou's key exhibition centers hosted 678 exhibitions, 7,768 conferences, and attracted 15.7 million visitors, up 23 percent, 9 percent, and 5.5 percent respectively year-on-year.

As for international conferences, the 2017 Fortune Global Forum also took place in Guangzhou, the number of participating Fortune Global 500 companies and invited guests have both broken the forum's historic record. The World Routes 2018 and the 2019 World Ports Conference are set to open in the city.

In 2017, the China Convention and Exhibition Society published a competitiveness index of Chinese exhibition cities, among which Guangzhou ranked third. The index analyzes relevant data from nearly 100 Chinese cities and serves as the most authoritative and scientific evaluation of China's exhibition industry.

An exhibitor introduces the functions of home electronics products to foreign purchasers at the Canton Fair on April 15. [Photo/Chinanews.com]