Major wine exhibition Vinexpo Asia to move to Singapore from Hong Kong in 2023

WINE and spirits exhibition Vinexpo Asia will be moving to Singapore in 2023, from its original location in Hong Kong where it was held for more than 20 years, said organiser Vinexposium.

The event, which will be held at Marina Bay Sands from May 23 to 25, 2023, will be the organiser’s first Vinexpo show in the Asia-Pacific region since the Covid-19 pandemic.

Vinexpo is one of the largest wine exhibitions in the world, with the original Hong Kong show targeted at industry members in the Asia-Pacific region. The business-to-business (B2B) event aims to connect buyers with wine makers and exporters from across the world.

“At the moment, it is very complex to enter Hong Kong, and there are a lot of changes happening in this destination,” said Vinexposium chief executive Rodolphe Lameyse, in response to queries from The Business Times.

Lameyse said while Singapore may not be a large market, it is growing in the wine trade business. The Republic is also a good location to reach out to other Asian markets in the region.

Originally named Vinexpo Hong Kong, the trade show will be rebranded as Vinexpo Asia when it shifts to Singapore to signal that it would serve not just the Republic but also the other markets in the region, including Australia and China.

Lameyse added that the decision to move was “very obvious”, given that he was the former director of Food and Hotel Asia, a food and hospitality trade show held in Singapore.

Vinexpo in Hong Kong was originally slated for May 2020, but it had been postponed a few times before being cancelled due to Covid-19 restrictions. Vinexposium also called off its show in Shenzhen, China, which was planned for the end of this year.

On holding the event in 2023 instead of 2022, Lameyse noted that planning for the event would take around a year, adding that Singapore did not allow trade shows like Vinexpo until recently due to Covid-19 restrictions.

Lameyse expects the Singapore show will attract some 7,000 visitors in total for a start. Past events on average drew around 15,000 visitors from various Asian countries, with visitors including wine retailers, importers and sommeliers. The trade show also saw more than 1,000 exhibitors comprising wine producers and exporters.

Vinexpo first originated in Bordeaux, France in 1981 and has since been held in other markets, including the US and China. Its most recent exhibition in Asia was held in New Delhi, India in November 2021.