DESPITE freebies and gimmicks like dancing girls, furry mascots and cafe-bars, fewer people turned up at what is billed as Asia's largest technology tradeshow this year.

At the close of the show on Friday night, organisers reported that about 54,350 people were at the Infocomm Media Business Exchange that started officially on Tuesday. This is a 13 per cent decrease from last year's figure.

The main reason given for the poorer turnout: companies reeling from the economic downturn have cut their travel and marketing budgets - usually the first discretionary spend to go.

Some companies, like Japanese telco giant NTT DoCoMo, did not turn up because of the H1N1 flu. The company, which is headquartered in Japan and would have to fly in many of its staff, did not want to risk getting or spreading the flu to anyone, its representative said.

Read the full story in Saturday's edition of The Straits Times.