VIV Asia 2011 considered a resounding success

VIV Asia, held at BITEC in Thailand from 9 to 11 March, attracted a record number of 28,978 visitors, of which 16,264 were international (56%) and 12,714 were from Thailand. The total figure is a massive increase of 39% on the last VIV Asia exhibition in 2009 (20,831). Feedback on VIV Asia was extremely positive: on a scale of 1 to 10, exhibitors rated it 8.1 and visitors as high as 8.4.

The list of the top 10 visitor countries is topped by India, followed by Vietnam and the Philippines. Interest from China is also constantly on the rise and countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka now feature among the top 10. As expected, visitor growth from South Korea and Japan was lower. Of the 682 exhibitors at VIV Asia 2011, 246 were there for the first time. Most of the newcomers operate in the feed milling equipment, feed ingredients and animal health sectors.

Ruwan Berculo, Project Manager Asia-Pacific at VNU Exhibitions Europe: “Backed by tremendous market support, the 2011 edition was the best VIV Asia ever. At the same time, there are clearly some points for improvement. ChinaVisions, for example, was quite disappointing. We worked very hard for it but the concept and organization did not work.  We learned our lessons and will do much better next time. Our industry can always rely on us to introduce new activities, to add more value. That’s the VIV spirit, to continuously serve our markets better.”

The outlook for VIV Asia 2013 is good. A third of the exhibitors at this year’s event have already put their names down for the next edition which is scheduled for 13-15 March 2013 at BITEC, Thailand.