Business / Auto China

Celeb spotters mob car show on opening days

By Li Fusheng (China Daily) Updated: 2014-04-23 07:07

According to Beijing Daily, the crowds included swarms of parents with kids as well as seniors.

"Tickets are not available today. How did they come in?" said a reporter from Beijing Daily.

He said that the organizers were "very strict this year" in terms of tickets and said he queued for more than two hours to get his pass and many of his colleagues failed to get one at all.

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Despite this, many reporters were approached and asked whether they need passes outside the venue.

Some reports said one journalists' pass was sold to visitors for up to 1,500 yuan ($245.3) on April 20 and blamed the number of celebrities for attracting those not interested in vehicles.

"We will carefully consider issues about stars and come up with methods when the show is closed," said Chai Jianxiang, an official at the automotive branch of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, which organizes the show.

Chai made the remark at a press conference for an auto show scheduled to open in August in Shanghai's Pudong district.

"Such embarrassing things will not happen at the Pudong show," said Chai.

Lu Qixing, vice-chairman of the Pudong commerce commission, said the Pudong show's organizers were concerned about how the auto shows will develop.

"We make it a point of offering many experiential programs so that visitors can focus more on vehicles themselves (rather than stars and models)," said Lu.

Lu said the show would cover many aspects because the government hopes to promote the development of the auto industry in the district.

"We believe that our activities will attract people's attention the way beautiful models do."

Organizers said they would learn from the Beijing auto show's lessons in other aspects, including offering a larger parking space, as they expect 300,000 visitors will attend the Pudong exhibition this year.

According to a CCTV report, there will be more than 200 auto shows in 60 cities in 2014 in China now that the country has become the largest auto market worldwide.