The Taipei Computer Association (TCA, 台北市電腦公會) and the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA, 外貿協會) have agreed to scrap the NT$200 admission charge for the upcoming consumer electronics show.
"For the past few years, we have been negotiating with TAITRA to drop the entrance fee and it finally paid off," said Cynthia Chen (陳守玉), TCA computer and communications service division manager.
Participating vendors at the Taipei Computer Applications Show had long expressed the desire that admission be free so as to draw larger crowds during the summer, Chen said on the sidelines of a press conference yesterday.
In its 17th year, the fair is expected to attract 400,000 visitors -- a substantial increase over last year's 350,000, the TCA said.
Vendors were equally upbeat on the new policy, in hopes that more consumers will spend the money they saved on admission on IT products instead.
"A number of companies are launching new products around this time. We hope to increase our sales two-fold from last year's show," said Calvin Chang (張敬仁), vice president of marketing at Acer Inc.
The recent stock market boom should also prompt more consumers to spend a little more, he said.
The Taipei Computer Applications Show will be held from Aug. 2 through Aug. 6 at the Taipei World Trade Center Exhibition Hall 1.
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