When Stone World first arrived at the Xiamen Exhibition Center for the Xiamen Stone Fair, the first thing we noticed was the huge area in the front of the exhibition center that is under construction. This site signaled that the exhibition’s recent years of growth and expansion are not ending any time soon. When walking through the halls, the need for such expansion is evident.
Celebrating its 15th anniversary this year, the exhibition, which was held from March 6 through 9, did not disappoint in drawing a large international crowd, especially from China. According to show officials, almost 144,000 visitors overall attended the exhibition, including more than 27,500 foreign visitors from 148 different countries. Just like last year, the halls were crowded and, especially in the main Chinese pavilion, it was literally difficult to get through the aisles. Some in the international hall, filled with stone from Europe, South America, Asia and even North America, said that traffic was not quite as robust as last year, but didn’t see much, if any, decrease in traffic there or anywhere in the show.