SHANGHAI, China — Texcare Asia 2007 — the largest industry show in the Far East — welcomed thousands of visitors during its first two days, but it was the visitor that didn’t arrive about whom most people were talking.
The trade fair opened here on time Wednesday, even as residents of this country’s financial center braced for what was being forecast as the worst typhoon to make landfall in China in a decade.
Shanghai, home to 20 million people, closed schools, ferries and other transport links following predictions of torrential rains and strong winds. But Typhoon Wipha caused little damage here as it made landfall well to the south and was soon downgraded from a typhoon to a tropical storm. Still, Chinese media have reported that several people have died in the storm.
At the Shanghai New International Expo Centre on Wednesday, heavy rain reverberating on the arena’s roof coupled with the din of laundry machinery sometimes made having a conversation a challenge. But the weather had cleared by Thursday morning.
While it’s too early to tell what kind of impact the storm had on early attendance, several U.S. exhibitors say they know of individuals who were planning to attend but either changed their plans because of the predicted storm or couldn’t get to Shanghai because their flights were canceled.
Charles Giancola, president of D.J. Giancola Exports, based in Syracuse, N.Y., was surprised by the early attendance given Wipha’s forecasted track. “Yesterday was insane with attendance,” he says of the opening day.
Rick Kelly, vice president of marketing and sales administration for Pellerin Milnor Corp., says most of the show traffic so far has been distributors and that there may be fewer end users here because of the typhoon.
Approximately 150 exhibitors are here, and the Professional Textile Care Academy is offering an advanced workshop and networking program for launderers and drycleaners.
Texcare Asia will return in 2009, but the site has yet to be determined. Messe Frankfurt is polling attendees about their preferences for the month and location for the next show.
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