Andrea Wants Guangzhou Heads Up

Andrea asks:
>
> I will be going to the Canton Fair in Guangzhou in a few weeks. It's
> my first time at the fair as well as in China. I realize that the
> show is huge and am wondering if
>
> 1) any advice for me on how to make the most of my time there?
> 2) any recommendations for a person or group, possibly a sourcing
> agent, who I could approach to act as my guide?
>
> thanks
> Andrea

Andrea,

Funny you should ask... I am in Hong Kong right now, and the first time I attended the fair you mention was 1977. My guess is you'll fly to Hong Kong and take the train in?

The Canton Fair is probably the biggest in the world, and you can get an idea at http://www.cantonfair.org.cn/en/index.asp. It is held at two massive locations, and then the whole city seems to get into the act with hotel lobbies and banquet rooms rented out to exhibitors. To make things even more interesting, there are usually several shows going on in Hong Kong at the same time as well. Check out www.hktdc.com.

The canton fair is held in 2 phases, and if you can walk very fast, you can see both buildings all booths in one day, but do not expect to comprehend anything. You could easily spend three days at each phase just browsing.

The best bet of course is to have customers in USA lined up, and to have already gone thru the process of finding the best place in the world to have the product made, and to have discovered china is the place.

Then you would be able to get an invitation in, and have people to meet, which is always best.

Of course, Hong Kong is entrepot so there are countless agents who would help, but again, they are going to want to qualify you... no one is going to spend time with someone just looking.

A guide would be nice, and I suppose just about any travel service would help you out, hiring out a guide for the day. I like China Travel Service for visas and tickets, since this is China and they are the State Travel Service. Maybe they hire out guides too. I assume you just want someone to guide you in and out of china, thru the shows, and around Hong Kong.

Canton (Guangzhou) Hotels are expensive during the day, so you may want to make the trip a day trip, in by train in the morning, out by train at night. Problem is you must make train res in hong Kong only, after you get a VISA form the Chinese (none needed for Hong Kong, one needed for China, prox US$200.) often the homeward bound trains are fully booked for several days out, especially during the fair.

There are always the busses in and out of China... a nightmare in traffic delays, but it can be done.

Give us more details, dates times, and other specific questions, and let's see if we can help.
>

Bookmark this post --- Email this post