The convention and exhibition industry in Guangdong province has recovered strongly since early this year, according to the Guangdong Fairs Organizers Association.

The number of exhibitions across the province increased 330 percent year-on-year to 116 in the first three months of 2023, with the exhibition area being increased 412 percent year-on-year to 4.36 million square meters, the association said.

"The increase of both the number and size of exhibitions highlights the vitality of the exhibition industry and helps greatly confidence," said Liu Songping, chair of the association.

Liu said the exhibition growth across the province in the first quarter of this year have both surpassed that of the same period of pre-COVID 2019.

"As an important link in the industrial and supply chains, professional industrial exhibitions play an important role in connecting production with demand — markets and consumption," she said.

By showcasing advanced manufacturing clusters, industrial exhibitions assist in the transformation and upgrading of the traditional manufacturing industry, shape new driving forces and advantages, she added.

Citing the sharply increased number of visitors to the first phase of the China Import and Export Fair (Canton Fair), Zhang Jieheng, secretary-general of Guangzhou International Convention & Exhibition Association, said the fair has demonstrated the enormous vitality and resilience of the country's trade.

The fair's first phase, which concluded on April 19, had more than 1.25 million visitors from 229 countries and regions, with nearly 13,000 companies displaying some 800,000 products, organizers said.

Guangzhou, a traditional trade and exhibition city in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, hosted 56 professional industrial exhibitions in the first three months of this year, with a total of exhibition area reaching about 1.93 million sq m.