The third Asia Outdoor exhibition in Nanjing, China reports an increase in trade show visitors. "Asia Outdoor" in Nanjing enjoys significant growth. Nanjing, China & Friedrichshafen, Germany – Asia Outdoor continues to grow: The exhibition ended on 2 August 2008 with 14.35 percent more trade visitors than the previous year. A total of 9,397 visitors (2007: 8,218) from 23 countries attended the show in China for mountain and nature sports.

Asia Outdoor is based on a close cooperation between Messe Friedrichshafen and the Nanjing International Exhibition Center. Last May the cooperation agreement between the two organizers was extended to the year 2013. The majority of foreign visitors came from Asia, but the event in Nanjing was also attended by people from as far away as Australia, Argentina, Germany and the US. Visa restrictions in the run-up to the Olympic Games and the devastating earthquake last May diminished the growth in visitor numbers. "Without the drop in visitors from the western Chinese provinces that were struck by the earthquake, we would have already surpassed our objective of 10,000 visitors at the third event," said Knut Jaeger, a business consultant who is the initiator of the trade show in Nanjing and has been traveling to China for outdoor companies for many years. There were also more exhibitors at this year’s Asia Outdoor. The number of companies displaying their products and services at the event rose by 13.9 percent this year to 245, and the amount of exhibition space used increased from 22,000 to 24,000 sqm. A large number of manufacturers relocated their sales talks to the Nanjing exhibition grounds.

Despite the crippling snowstorms and disastrous earthquake that struck earlier this year, the Chinese outdoor market appears to be stabile, with over a 20-percent increase anticipated – making 2008 another double-digit growth year, according to the China Outdoor Commerce Alliance (COCA). Impressive sales growth rates in malls and department stores show that outdoor products have become part of a major lifestyle trend in China. This holds true for clothing and especially for the shoe segment.