Hosted Korea's top five shows over the past year, setting new records Korea International Exhibition Center (KINTEX) is fast being seen as a Northeast Asian exhibition hub after its first year of operations. Moreover, there are good prospects that from 2008, Kintex could be yielding profits - even earlier than people's expectations. KINTEX has logged a record high operation rate of 50 percent for about twelve months after its debut on April 31, 2005 opening a new chapter in history of the domestic exhibition and convention industry. KINTEX changed its target operational rate for 2005 from 40 percent to 45 percent and posted 50 percent, surpassing even the revised target figure during the period between March 31 and December 31, 2005. The feat was significant compared to the Pudong Exhibition Center in Shanghai, which recorded an operational rate of 35 percent during the initial 12 months following its opening on December 31, 2001. On April 27, Kim In-shik, CEO of KINTEX said during its first anniversary press conference, "KINTEX's high operating rate 49.74% in the last year is exceed our target figure 45%. Although it recorded a deficit of 2.5 billion in the last year, as much as soon, we'll take a KINTEX's exhibition business out of the red and put it into the black within 4 years. " Furthermore, KINTEX has hosted Korea's top five shows The Seoul Motor Show, which coincided with the official opening of KINTEX on April 31, attracted more than 1 million spectators amid the spotlight from Korea and abroad. KINTEX hosted the Kyunghyang Housing Fair 2006 February 17- 22, 2006 and the Seoul Int'l Machine Tool Show April 12-17, 2006, bringing to the convention and display center all of the nation's top five exhibitions during the period between April 30, 2005 and April 17, 2006. KINTEX has been very impressed with the achievement that this center has successfully attracted all the top 5 exhibitions of Korea. Food Show & Korea that was co-located had 53,047 guests. Five others like the LED, FPD expos that drew great attention from people in that industry, followed these shows. In order to achieve its mission, KINTEX took a strong move to combine promising shows under the KINTEX brand. Co-location of similar shows created synergetic effects on the industry and people was also one of its strategies. Of course, creating new shows out of the market of potential was the main task of it as well. The International Road & Traffic Show, held from July 7 through July 10, 2005 was one of its own brand shows that been organized by mutual efforts of KINTEX, KOTRA and Korea Road & Transportation Association and sponsored by five governmental organizations that included the Ministry of Construction & Transportation and Korea National Police Agency which had been longing to see the launching of the show KINTEX posted a record number of performances 54 mega exhibitions, domestically and internationally, until the end of 2005 plus 80 major conventions and 56 others. With the opening of KINTEX, CEOs, financial officials, artists and entertainers, and other knowledge industry people saw Goyang emerging as a Northeast Asian Mecca of the exhibition and convention industry, he noted. In addition, when the second exhibition center construction is finished it will possess 10,7082 - large exhibition scale in the world, after then, it is possible to hold international fairs like the 'World Information and Communication Technology' or 'International Textile Fair.' The KINTEX project was initiated and co-funded by national and local government to meet a deficiency in the domestic supply of venues for exhibitions and conventions. The other goal was to achieve the globalization of the domestic exhibition and convention industry. KINTEX has developed a three-story building with exhibition and convention facilities on a 68,000 pyeong (224,800 square meters) site; it had a grand opening on April 29, 2005, after completion of the first phase in a three-phase construction project. The most unique feature about the KINTEX exhibition facilities is that it can hold five tons/ with floor loading capacity. KINTEX is attracting and developing world-class exhibitions and conventions through vigorous marketing activities, promoting it as the marketplace for top-ranked domestic and international enterprises. It is the leading international exhibition complex in Northeast Asia in terms of size, operational systems and service quality. It is equipped with facilities and infrastructure superior to other exhibition centers all over the world. In particular, the KINTEX exhibition hall is a single-floor pillarless structure, while most of the other exhibition centers in Northeast Asia consist of multiple floors. This unique feature makes it possible for KINTEX to effectively accommodate exhibition organizers' various demands and boost its reputation as an advanced international exhibition center.