Local officials last week announced that Xiamen hosted 29 large-scale exhibitions (covering at least 10,000 square meters) in the first half of the year. Major events included the China Xiamen International Stone Fair, the China Feed Industry Expo and the Xiamen Industry Expo. Authorities noted that exhibitions boost the local economy by spurring the hospitality, catering, transportation and tourism industries.

Xiamen hosted a total of 77 exhibitions through June, up by 30.5 percent year-on-year. The total exhibition area covered 1.1 million square meters, up 40 percent to a new high. The city also hosted more than 2,000 meetings, up 5.4 percent year-on-year. The meetings contributed an estimated economic benefit of 13.8 billion yuan, up 22.4 percent.

Xiamen's exhibition industry won four awards earlier this month at the Expo Investment Fair for International Exhibition Cooperation held in Beijing. A promotional drive to attract new exhibitions to Xiamen began earlier this year. Newly-attracted events include the National Pharmaceutical Machinery Exposition and the Xiamen Department Store Exhibition.