International Trade Fair for Mountain and Winter Technologies with ispo china 09, the 5th international trade fair for sports, fashion and lifestyle brands in
Asia, Beijing 10 – 12 March 2008.

To create a 360° winter sport competence center for the Chinese market is the goal of Messe Bozen and Messe München GmbH. In a joint press conference, the two trade fair organizers presented the new double event ispo china/Alpitec China 2009 in Beijing on Sunday.

The ski and sporting goods market in China is booming. Winter sports are winning an increasing number of fans with the fast pace of economic development in China and the increasing prosperity of the Chinese. Both the number of ski areas and the number of people involved in sports have increased extremely rapidly in China; there are currently more than 200 - albeit small - ski areas. This is the right time for the European winter sports industry to cultivate the Chinese market and set new yardsticks, which point the way to the future worldwide.

Messe München GmbH has been working together with Messe Bozen within the trade fair network CEFA for years and is convinced that Messe Bozen has created optimum symbioses with the combining of the infrastructure trade fair Alpitec with the equipment trade fair Prowinter. Messe München GmbH has already been active on the Chinese market with ispo china since 2005 and has signed up Messe Bozen as partner for 2009. "I have extremely pleased that Messe Bozen is bringing trade fairs to places where they have a market with Klimahouse Roma 2008 and Alpitec China starting in 2009," Bozen's trade fair President RA Gernot Rössler emphasized.

The goal of the double trade fair ispo china/Alpitec China is to cover the complete winter sports area 360 degrees, because buyer groups overlap in China. ispo china covers the areas of clothing and equipment for retailers and ski renters and will expand its range of products with lift facilities, show-making technology, slope maintenance equipment and access controls with Alpitec China.

"Messe München International already introduced the Special Community Ski Resort Development as pioneer of this new collaboration at the 4th ispo china 2008," Manfred Wutzlhofer, President and CEO of Messe München GmbH, explained. "All those involved are welcoming the segment, which confirms that we have made the right decision to cover the needs of the Chinese market perfect with Alpitec 2009 running parallel starting in 2009 and to hand over the segment to the specialists of Messe Bozen. In addition, ispo china will continue to hold the established trade conference APSC (Asian Pacific Snow Conference) for this area."

Both trade fairs will take place simultaneously, but are structured differently. "Alpitec China will start as a small event, but it has enormous potential" Trade Fair Director Reinhold Marsoner stated, who is looking forward to working together with the renowned, large international trade fair.