Oct
Bad Canton Fair Sales After APEC Stuff-Up
Exhibitors at the Canton Fair are reporting markedly lower sales from Australia and less buyer traffic in the halls. Some seem to be convinced that the APEC stuff-up with the cancellation of the APEC Business Travel Card for Australians has had a bigger impact then the ongoing problem with the global downturn.
Asian Manufacturers feel betrayed by APEC at the very time they needed them most, as APEC offered no good reason for the strange policy change request
It seems the full effects of the APEC Business Travel Card debacle are only now been felt as Australian importers suddenly realise that their APEC Business Travel Card is now expired and they cannot attend the annual string of Asiatic trade fairs unless they now get visas for each country.
It seems a lot of these business people (importers), being time poor, have just decided not to bother to do their trade fair and foreign manufacturers trips this year, or could not because they did not have time to get Visas at the last minute.
The problem was caused earlier when APEC Australia for no apparent reason, and without consultation or warning, changed the rules so that only traders spending multi millions of dollars qualified for the APEC business travel cards. This meant that the vast majority of importers from Australia no longer qualify and would have to go back to getting individual visas for each country, which is a very painful and time consuming process as each embassy makes them line up to submit documents and they return to collect. If the relevant foreign embassy is not in their city then the problem of visas is multiplied.
APEC Australia compounded their foolish mistake by not sending any advise of this to cardholders when renewal was pending. Australian importers, for the last 4 years, have been used to making quick decisions to go to see manufacturers or attend trade fairs as they just needed to grab a travel ticket and their passport.
Now these entrepreneurs are contemplating if they can go back to being treated like plebs, hat in hand fronting the bureaucrats, at the various embassies, or look for sources in places where the do not need to get on the visa merry-go-round.
