Shanghai World Expo 2010
What will be the legacy?
By hosting the 2010 World Expo, China - and Shanghai - grab the global
limelight in the next few years. This case study shows the size and status of the
grand-scale international event and what it means for China to successfully
host and stage this, as well as the branding, image and future potential of China
as a MICE destination.
Roy Graff
ChinaContact

The Goal
The Chinese Government will go to great lengths to make Expo 2010
Shanghai China a special event that carries on traditions and opens a new
vista into the future.
Our motto is: \"Keeping in mind the next 60 years' development while
preparing for the six months' Exposition.\"
We count on the continuing attention, support and participation of all the
peace-loving countries.

History of the Expo
• First ‘Great Exhibition’ held in Crystal Palace, Hyde Park in 1851
• At Expo 2000 Hanover, where countries created their own
architecture, the average pavilion investment was around €13
million.
• Evolution of World Fair:
o Industrialization (1851–1938)
o Cultural exchange (1939–1991)
o Nation branding (1992–present)

Notable Expo Legacies
• 1851 - Crystal Palace, London (burned in 1936)
• 1880 - Royal Exhibition Building, Melbourne
(World Heritage listed)
• 1889 - Eiffel Tower, Paris
• 1906 - Aquarium, Milan
• 1962 - Space Needle, Seattle
• 1998 - Expo buildings in Lisbon, Portugal
• Many themed rides have been moved to Disneyland and
Disney World.

Benefits
• 70 million expected visitors, three times more than the Hanover
Fair in 2000.
• 186 countries and 47 international organizations have confirmed
participation to date.
• (5% of total will be foreign; in 2008, 5.26 million foreigners
visited Shanghai)
• Dutch pavilion at Hannover Expo 2000 research estimated the
pavilion (which cost around € 35 million) generated around €
350 million of potential revenues for the Dutch economy.

Expo and Global Recession
• Cost increases with currency exchange rate
• Many countries heavily in debt
• USA Pavillion update???
• Travel expenditure down

Long Lasting Benefits
• Beijing 2008 Olympics confirmed China’s credibility at large scale
events.
• Contributing to improvements in service quality, communication
and multi-cultural awareness.
• Opportunity for more countries to engage China over six months.
Mainly targeting Chinese people as consumers.
• Stimulating further investment in convention venues and hotels,
road improvements and transport upgrades (role model for other
Chinese cities)
• Giving Shanghai an edge to compensate for cost increases.
• Media focus on China/Shanghai raises interest for visitors, both
leisure and business.
• Raising the standards of the meetings and events sector.
• Awareness of global issues

Other Effects
• As with Olympics, the Expo may lead to displacement of other events and
crowding out due to higher costs.
• Event of this scale interferes with normal business operations, leading to
cancellation or change of regular annual events.
• Growth in capacity is biased towards luxury product leading to over-capacity in
this segment and under capacity in budget accommodation.
• Increasing cost pushes domestic meetings to other cities (benefit to cities
around Shanghai)

Conclusion
 Shanghai is a city that already enjoys a favourable reputation for meetings and
events. The World Expo enhances and augments this image.
 Important to leave a number of buildings with strong legacy architecture for
the future to attract more visitors after the Expo.
 Chinese who are involved in Expo will be exposed to a level of execution
which is not normally seen in China. Over 6 months, many employees and
visitors will be involved.
 Helping to meet international standards (eg. wifi, smoking, insurance)
 Shanghai is learning about PR and Branding. Major cities in China need to create
Convention & Tourism Bureaus to stimulate demand and offer high-standard
service.
 Marketing and PR still needs more improvements.

For more information
• info@chinacontact.org
• UK +44 20 3239 9688 China +86 1351 1013224
• Website: www.chinacontact.org
• Network: network.chinacontact.org (Expo2010 group)
• twitter.com/chinacontact
• www.china-advisers-network.com
• Twitter: #expo2010

Shanghai World Expo 2010
What will be the legacy?
Roy Graff
ChinaContact