Hong Kong Gift & Promotional Product Fair Opens

As soon as you arrive in Hong Kong, it's obvious that gift sourcing is big business here. Several gift shows, including one in Las Vegas, advertise at the airport, and the Alibaba.com wholesale sourcing website has ads wrapping the baggage claim and pillars in the subway, as well as adorning the tops of the red taxicabs. The ride from the airport to the convention center passes a forest of container shipping cranes. Jeffrey Lam, chairman of the Hong Kong Gifts & Premium Fair Organising Committee, says that Hong Kong shipped over 20 million containers last year, a business that grew at a rate of 5 percent over last year.

The Hong Kong show has grown 10 percent since last year, to 3,800 exhibitors in 4,500 booths. These days, the convention center is practically bursting at the seams. Even the parking deck was turned into a new exhibition hall called "Expo Drive".