Fall in govt-sponsored events projected

Number of meetings and events held with public funds will continue to decrease in the country due to the official frugality campaign, according to a report issued by the Alliance of China Conference and Hotel on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the number of conferences and meetings organized by private companies will rise, with the proportion of meetings in the whole market increasing from 49.9 percent in 2010 to 57.7 percent in 2012.

Wu Shaoyuan, the chief international conference expert of China CYTS MICE Service Co Ltd, which is helping government agencies and associations to bid for international conventions, said the task of holding conferences is being increasingly outsourced to professional agencies in the country.

The proportion of meetings being prepared by professional conference agencies rose from 9.1 percent in 2010 to 17.8 percent in 2013, according to the report.

Tourism agencies will play a major role in these professional conference agencies, Wu said.

International events and conferences continue to be a major source of tourists for cities in Beijing.

One third of overseas visitors to Beijing arrived to attend conferences in 2013, according to the Beijing Municipal Commission of Tourism Development.