Serena Zheng/ Jasmin Zhuang
IAAPA Expo Europe 2019 was the largest attraction industry expo and conference in EMEA region at the Paris Expo Porte de Versailles in Paris, France, 17-19 Sept. “IAAPA does not belong to any country, but is a global association that is characterized by its ability to provide many global interactions,” The organizer of IAAPA said in a live interview at IAAPA Expo Asia in June. The organizers hoped to gain an in-depth understanding of the various regions around the world, and also wanted to take this opportunity to allow their exhibitors to experience different markets, so they chose Paris, France.

With the area of 17,500㎡, the scale of IAAPA Expo Europe 2019 was the largest in its history in Europe. There were 648 exhibitors from more than 40 countries and regions including Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Denmark, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, India, Italy, Korea, Mexico, Spain, Russia, UK and USA, an increase of 13% by comparison with EAS 2018. In the meantime, there were more than 90 famous Chinese amusement and game enterprises such as Jiuyou, Superwing, Nitto Fun, Zhuoyuan, ACE, Tecway, M Sky, Zhongshan Cheer, Doremi, Suzhou Fwu-Long, LX-Game, Movie Power, Neofuns, Paokai, Yuehua, Airo, LS-Game, Flying, G-Look, Game Plus, Golden Horse, Gooest Media, Domerry, Longcheng, Lily, Skyfun, Steki, Cowboy, HaiChuan Dinosaur Landscape, Jianpei, Jamma, Nets Tribe, Qilong, Shanghai Lulu, Shanghai Yidong, Chuangying, and Hualong.


Since taking office, French President Emmanuel Macron has been committed to improving the domestic business environment in France, and making the country more attractive to international investors, and various measures have achieved some goals. The French media believe that with the government's active guidance and coordination of reforms, French business attractiveness is expected to gradually recover. In this context, the cooperation between Chinese and French companies also enjoys broad prospects. Many of the Chinese exhibitors at this year's Expo are due to the international appeal of IAAPA, and on the one hand, they are exploring the French market.


Exhibits at the IAAPA Expo Europe included facilities of recreation places, amusement parks, children's amusement and swimming pools, electronic amusement machine series, water park equipment, dynamic movies, theme parks, and tourism planning of scenic areas or spots, etc. It attracted about 15,900 professionals from the leisure and attraction industry covering operators, suppliers, manufacturers, investors, developers, and those who wanted to join the world's amusement industry, according to official information. They explored new business opportunities, learned from each other and made valuable business connections with global professionals.

There were a good many novel games and amusement equipment at IAAPA Expo Europe, among which VR and Dark Ride were most eye-catching. There were a number of well-known manufacturers such as CL Corp, DOF, Dynamic, Entertainment Resource, Triotech, VR Coaster, Virtual Games Park, SPREE Interactive, nWave, Breeze Creative, ILLUCITY, as well as newcomers. They have jointly exhibited a wide range of games and amusement equipment, applications, and immersive new products. In addition, manufacturers of water park and related equipment were not absent. Numerous key manufacturers exhibiting at the exhibition, forming another style of the exhibition.


Zhang Fangling (Letitia Chang), the representative of the overseas department, and Ju Long (Ericson), representative of AE exhibited at IAAPA Expo Europe. The purpose of attending the expo was to help promote the amusement companies in mainland China and Taiwan, to learn the latest news of the industry and the current situation of the French amusement market, and to promote GTI Taipei Expo & Online Game Expo 2020, which is to be held from April 16 to 18 and the 12th GTI Asia China Expo. IAAPA Expo Europe 2020 will be held in London from September 22 to 24.

※The article is published in the GTI Magazine Issue No. 185 in April 2020