About Hong Kong International Wine & Spirits Fair

Hong Kong International Wine & Spirits Fair

The Hong Kong International Wine & Spirits Fair is Asia's leading wine trade fair, organised by the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC) and held annually each November at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. It was launched in 2008, months after the Hong Kong government abolished all wine duties in February 2008, making Hong Kong the only major economy with no duty and no sales tax on wine. As the flagship event of the city's strategy to become Asia's regional wine trading and distribution hub, the fair grew from more than 520 exhibitors in 2009 to more than 1,000 exhibitors at its peak editions, and its 15th edition ran in November 2023 with more than 500 exhibitors from 17 countries and regions.

A fair born of zero wine duty in 2008

The fair's origin is inseparable from a tax decision. In February 2008 the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government abolished all wine duties and eliminated the duty-related customs and administrative controls on wine. Hong Kong became the only major economy in the world to impose no duty and no sales tax on wine. The HKTDC launched the International Wine & Spirits Fair the same year, in 2008, as the flagship event of the city's strategy to become Asia's regional wine trading and distribution hub and a gateway to mainland China. The effect on trade was dramatic: the value of Hong Kong's wine imports rose from HK$1.6 billion in 2007 to HK$10.8 billion in 2015 and around HK$12 billion by 2016 to 2018, an increase of more than 700 percent, and the number of international wine businesses established in Hong Kong grew steadily. The fair was both a beneficiary of that boom and one of its instruments.

The organiser and venue

The fair is organised by the Hong Kong Trade Development Council, a statutory body established in 1966 that serves as the international marketing arm for Hong Kong-based traders, manufacturers and service providers. It is held at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (HKCEC) in Wan Chai, the city's principal harbourfront exhibition venue. The November timing places it at the height of the autumn wine calendar, and it shares its November week with other HKTDC events at the HKCEC, including the Hong Kong International Optical Fair and medical and healthcare events. Senior Hong Kong government officials have opened the fair — the Financial Secretary was guest of honour at the 10th edition in 2017 — underlining that the event is an instrument of economic policy as well as a trade show.

Growth through the first editions

The fair scaled quickly. The second edition in 2009 attracted over 520 exhibitors from 34 countries and regions, including Argentina, Australia, Chile, the Chinese mainland, Hungary, India, Italy, Japan, Korea, Moldova, New Zealand, the Philippines, Portugal, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Thailand, the United States and Uruguay. The third edition in November 2010 set a record of nearly 700 exhibitors from 30 countries and regions, and the 2011 edition drew over 19,000 buyers from 71 countries and regions, with Asian buyer numbers up 66 percent. By the seventh edition in 2014 the fair drew more than 1,000 exhibitors from 38 countries and regions, around 20,000 trade buyers from 76 countries and regions and more than 30,000 public visitors on its public day. The ninth edition in 2016 featured more than 1,060 exhibitors from 37 countries and regions, and the 10th edition in 2017 set a record of about 1,070 exhibitors from 38 countries and regions with 30 group pavilions.

What is exhibited: wines, spirits, beer and more

The fair presents old- and new-world wines, spirits, beer and olive oil. National and regional pavilions anchor the show floor, with France, Italy, Germany, Spain and Australia prominent among them, alongside pavilions from wine-producing regions, trade organisations and government bodies from around the world — 30 group pavilions at the 10th edition. The Wine Palace fine-wine zone showcases premium labels, and exhibitor highlights at peak editions have ranged from grower Champagne to honey wine from Slovenia. Hong Kong's own trading data explain the mix: most of the city's wine imports have come from France, the United Kingdom and Italy, with imports from the United States and Italy recording double-digit growth in strong years, while Hong Kong's wine re-exports, HK$2.96 billion in the first eight months of 2017 alone, flow largely toward mainland China and Asia. Since November 2015, an agreement facilitating the import of wine into the mainland through Hong Kong has covered ports in Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, furthering the fair's gateway function.

Programme: competition, master classes, auctions and the Gala Dinner

The fair is built around an unusually dense events programme — more than 50 special activities at early editions, over 70 activities in 2014 and around 60 events in 2019. It includes the Hong Kong International Wine & Spirit Competition, run with the London-based International Wine & Spirit Competition (IWSC); master classes and grand tasting sessions; wine auctions; sommelier events and cocktail demonstrations; industry conferences and seminars; and the annual Gala Dinner. At the 10th edition the HKTDC teamed up with the Hong Kong Polytechnic University's School of Hotel and Tourism Management to co-organise the Asia Wine Academy, adding a structured education offer. The final day of the fair is a public day, open to ticketed public visitors aged 18 or above, which has drawn more than 30,000 public visitors and turns the trade fair, for one day, into a consumer wine festival.

Buyers and the Asian market focus

The buyers are wine importers, distributors, retailers, hoteliers, restaurateurs and sommeliers, drawn especially from Asia. Trade buyer numbers reached around 20,000 from 76 countries and regions at the seventh edition, and HKTDC leadership has repeatedly identified Asian buyers as the fair's growth engine, with Asian buyer numbers rising 66 percent in 2011. The logic is geographic and fiscal: producers from established and emerging wine countries use Hong Kong, duty-free and deeply connected to mainland distribution, as their Asian shop window. HKTDC Deputy Executive Director Benjamin Chau summarised the fair's formula as zero duties since 2008, a large international exhibitor presence, international buyers especially from Asia, and high value-added networking from grand tastings to seminars. Exhibitors at the fair's peak numbered over 1,000 from up to 38 countries and regions, an international density few Asian food and beverage events match.

The fair and Hong Kong's wine hub economy

The fair both reflects and reinforces a measurable economic transformation. Wine imports grew more than six-fold between 2007 and 2015, and more than 700 percent by 2016 to 2018, as trading, storage, auction and distribution businesses established or expanded in Hong Kong after duty abolition. Margaret Fong, Executive Director of the HKTDC, said at the 10th edition that the fair had grown to become a major event of its kind in Asia, entering its 10th anniversary as the region's renowned wine trading and distribution platform. The 12th edition in 2019 was described by the HKTDC as the most important event of its kind in Asia. The fair's conferences track the trade's development, covering mainland market access, logistics and the customs facilitation arrangements that let wine cleared in Hong Kong move efficiently into mainland ports.

Later editions and the post-pandemic fair

The fair's 15th edition ran in November 2023 with more than 500 exhibitors from 17 countries and regions — a smaller field than the pre-pandemic peak of more than 1,000 exhibitors, reflecting the wine trade's slower post-pandemic and consumption cycle, but maintaining the fair's annual November place at the HKCEC, its pavilion structure, its competition and its public day. Earlier editions set the benchmarks the fair is still measured against: nearly 700 exhibitors in 2010, over 19,000 buyers in 2011, more than 1,000 exhibitors and around 20,000 trade buyers in 2014, and a record 1,070 exhibitors at the 10th edition in 2017. The fair continues in the HKTDC's hybrid EXHIBITION+ environment, extending physical meetings with online business matching.

Significance in Asia's wine calendar

No other Asian wine fair carries the same policy backstory. The Hong Kong International Wine & Spirits Fair was created by a government-backed trade body in the same year its host city abolished wine duty entirely, and it grew in lockstep with a more than seven-fold expansion of the city's wine imports. For producers, it offers duty-free access to Asian importers and a bridge into mainland China under recognised customs facilitation; for buyers, it concentrates old- and new-world pavilions, a major competition with the IWSC, auctions and master classes in three November days; and for Hong Kong, it remains the flagship public proof of the wine-hub strategy adopted in 2008.