The exhibition industry in Shanghai in East China faced many challenges in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but nonetheless proved itself to be remarkably resilient.

Official statistics showed that last year, Shanghai held a total of 550 exhibitions, a year-on-year decrease of 47 percent. The total floorspace area of the events was 11.08 million square meters, down 43 percent year-on-year.

Of these, 25 exhibitions with a scale of more than 100,000 sq m were held, 20 fewer than in 2019.

However, under adverse conditions, the city's exhibition industry still achieved fruitful outcomes.

Internationalization, brand development reap results

In the list of the world's top 100 business exhibitions released by Imp-Exp Executive magazine in 2020, no less than 14 expos in Shanghai were listed, with a total exhibition area of 3.24 million sq m, an increase of 16.8 percent over the same period in 2019. The number and scale of the listed exhibitions ranked first among the world's major exhibition cities.

The third China International Import Expo last year for one was a big success, in terms of the deals reached at the event and the level of participation, according to the organizers.

A total of $72.62 billion of deals were struck at the third CIIE, an increase of 2.1 percent year-on-year.

Exhibition scale bounces back quickly

From June to December 2020, the total exhibition area in Shanghai was 10.67 million sq m, nearly 90 percent that for the same period in 2019. All 25 exhibitions with more than 100,000 sq m were held in the second half of the year.

Integration of online, offline exhibitions

The Council for the Promotion of International Trade Shanghai and Alibaba Group jointly launched their Cloud Exhibition Platform last year, facilitating nearly 20 exhibitions to run online throughout the year.