The Guangzhou International Convention and Exhibition Centre used to be a vibrant location, where huge crowds gathered and job expectations were high. Most people who come to the fair at the centre are mostly students seeking jobs as interpreters. This year however, spirits have gone down among the students as the number of foreign buyers at the biannual Canton fair have reduced, leaving the youngsters disheartened.
Wang Qi, a 22 year old college student said that she had traveled more than two hours by train from Shaoguan to Guangzhou for the event. She also added that after standing in line the whole day she did not get a job. Qi paraded the fair with just a single word on a strip of cardboard that read ‘Espanol’ (Spanish).
The event organizers have been making efforts to attract more buyers and have also sent invitations to 1.3 million overseas enterprises this year, which was an increase of 17 percent as compared to the spring session in order to woo foreign buyers. Efforts were made to attract more foreign enterprises this year due to the drop in employment caused as a result of the global economic crisis.
According to reports, even domestic vendors were keen to take part in the event. The organizers were optimistic about the attractions of the fair, and reserved more booths for well known domestic brands. However, the organizers admitted that they were not very impressed with the attendance and turnover figures that were recorded.
