Year after year, it comes to the key moment at the end of the year to review financial performance.  2016 could be considered a year full of shifts and shocks.  In this year, many “black swans” seem to have appeared on the political and economic fronts.  Uncertainty has prevailed and the global situation has been volatile.  The industry environment has followed suit, and with regard to whether it has become better or worse, everyone has his or her own benchmark to assess it with.  However, this year many leading brands in the game (amusement) industry ushered in their 20th, 30th or 50th anniversary.  In a business environment filled with continuous challenges, holding a long-standing position in the industry really has not been easy.  Their perseverance and dedication is worthy of praise.  These industry members should give themselves a round of applause.

In 2016, the 98th IAAPA Attractions Expo recorded 35,100 in attendance, G2E attracted more than 27,000 industry professionals to its show floor, and GTI Asia China Expo greeted 116,527 guests, the largest visitor number in its 8-year history.  What these figures represent is worth exploring.  Even though the economic recovery has not been strong, manufacturers still put a lot of effort into product development and continue to launch new creations into the market.  The purpose of industry members visiting exhibitions is to see new products and explore entertainment and leisure trends.  The above-mentioned numbers demonstrate that the demand for purchasing still exists.  In particular, there are more than 2,000 theme parks in China and about 300 of those destinations feature an investment above RMB$50 million, which is equivalent to tremendous demand for related equipment and services and enormous market potential.

Taking place in September, GTI Asia China Expo 2016 occupied as many as 6 exhibition halls to house more than 400 exhibitors and attracted buyers from 56 countries and territories.  The event gained unanimous high marks from industry professionals.  GTI Asia China Expo has turned into the number one exhibition in Asia, which is empowered by the massive China marketplace with a 1.5 billion population along with the strong GTI brand equity.  The two GTI Expos in 2017 (GTI Asia Taipei Expo on May 11-13 and GTI Asia China Expo on September 13-15) will continue to play the vital role of driving the industry’s development.  We would like to invite you to join and support us.  Let us work together to develop the future under all these promising key indicators.  Lastly, we wholeheartedly wish all of our readers a healthy, auspicious and fruitful 2017. 

※The article is published in the GTI Magazine Issue No. 149 in December, 2016