UFI Global Exhibition

Barometer
GlobalSouthern Africa
United Kingdom
Central &South America
MexicoIndonesia
Australia
India
Japan
Macau
US
ThailandBrazil22nd Edition

Report based on the results of a survey
concluded in January 2019

Contents

Introduction																			

03Results by region																			Gross Turnover Development
Development of Operating Profits
Most Important Business Issues
What Makes an Event More Enjoyable?
Current Strategic Priorities

04
06
08
11
13

Detailed results for selected countries or zones
North America: Mexico, US
Central and South America: Brazil
Europe: Germany, Italy, Russia, UK, other countries in Europe
Africa: South Africa
Middle East
Asia - Pacific: Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Macau, Thailand, other countries in Asia - Pacific

19
23
27
37
39
41

Conclusion

57

Answers per country/region

58

22nd UFI Global Exhibition Barometer / January 2019 ©

2

Introduction
Welcome to the 22nd edition of the “UFI Global Exhibition Barometer”
survey. This study is based on a global survey, concluded in January
2019. It represents up to date information on the development andthe outlook of the global exhibition industry as well as on 19 specificcountries and zones.
UFI began assessing the impact of global economic conditions on the
exhibition industry twice a year in 2009. Since then, it has regularlygrown in size and scope, as numerous industry associations aroundthe world have joined the project.
In addition to JEXA (Japan Exhibition Association), who joined
as from this latest survey, these are AAXO (The Association of
African Exhibition Organizers) and EXSA (Exhibition and Events
Association of Southern Africa) in South Africa, AEO (Associationof Event Organisers) in the UK, AFIDA (Asociación Internacionalde Ferias de América) in Central and South America, AMPROFEC(Asociación Mexicana de Profesionales de Ferias y Exposiciones
y Convenciones) in Mexico, EEAA (The Exhibition and Event
Association of Australasia) in Australasia, IECA (Indonesia Exhibition
Companies Association) in Indonesia, IEIA (Indian Exhibition Industry
Association) in India, MFTA (Macau Fair Trade Association) in
Macau, SISO (Society of Independent Show Organizers) in the US,
TEA (Thai Exhibition Association) in Thailand and UBRAFE (União
Brasileira dos Promotores Feiras) in Brazil.

22nd
22ndUFI
UFIGlobal
GlobalExhibition
ExhibitionBarometer
Barometer/ /January
January20192019©©

Important remarks
It should be noted that the number of replies to the current survey(302 from 53 countries - see full list at the end of the document)
provides representative results. However, the consolidated regional
results may not reflect the situation of specific countries in that
region. This is why the report also includes a set of detailed results
for the 19 countries or zones where a significant number of answers
were obtained.
Questions related to this survey can be addressed to ChristianDruart, UFI Research Manager, at chris@ufi.org. This research isavailable online at www.ufi.org/research.

33

Gross Turnover Development
The 22nd Barometer surveyed the evolution of participants’ gross
turnover expectations for the second half of 2018 and the two halvesof 2019 compared to their turnover during the same period in theprevious year (regardless of possible biennial effects).
The following chart presents, at regional level, the percentage ofcompanies declaring an increase in their turnover. It combines theseresults with those of previous surveys since 2008 and it does not take
into account the “unknown” or “not applicable” answers.

In the Americas and Europe however, the levels are lower than the high - ones recorded a year ago.
The charts included in the second part of this report (“Detailed results
for selected countries or zones”) detail these regional results, adding
the percentage of companies declaring decreases in their turnover
and the percentage of “unknown” answers.

For each period between mid-2018 and the end of 2019, a majority ofcompanies from all four regions indicate Gross Turnover increases.
This positive outlook is especially strong in both Asia/Pacific andMiddle East/Africa regions, where the highest levels in the last 5
years are recorded.

22nd UFI Global Exhibition Barometer / January 2019 ©

4

% of companies declaring an increase in turnover when comparedto their projections for the same period the year before(regardless of possible biennial effects)

22nd UFI Global Exhibition Barometer / January 2019 ©

5

Development of Operating Profits
The 22nd Global Barometer survey questioned the evolution ofoperating profits for 2018 compared to the previous year.
The following chart combines these results with those of previous
surveys, which track the development of operating profits since 2009.
It highlights the results of companies declaring an increase of morethan 10% and those declaring a stable result (between -10% and+10%) – see footnote.

A significant numbers of companies anticipate a reduction of theirprofit or loss in several submarkets: Central & South America (27% in
Brazil and 35% in other countries), 27% in Asia/Pacific (for countries
other than Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Macau andThailand), 25% in the Middle East, and 23% in Germany and Japan.

The results show that, in each of the four regions, 80% of companies
maintained a good level of performance in 2018 and around 30 to
40% of them declared an increase of more than 10% compared to
2017.
The highest proportions of companies declaring such an increase areobserved in Mexico (62%), Italy (56%), United Kingdom (55%) andIndonesia (50%); on the opposite side, the lowest proportions are inAustralia (18%), Russia (17%), Macau (10%) and the USA (8%).

Footnote: The charts included in the second part of this report (“Detailed results for selected countries or zones”) detail these results, adding the percentage of companies with reductions in
profits or losses.

22nd UFI Global Exhibition Barometer / January 2019 ©

6

Operating Profits compared to the previous year

22nd UFI Global Exhibition Barometer / January 2019 ©

7

Most Important Business Issues
Companies were asked to identify the three most important issues
for their business in the coming year from a pre-defined list of sevenissues. Multiple choices were provided to get further insights forsome answers.

The following pages show the consolidated global results, including
further insights. They also detail these results by region and by typeof activity (for 3 main segments: “Organiser”, “Venue only” and“Service provider only”). The results show some differences:

As in previous surveys, the clear majority of all answers relate to thefollowing 4 issues:“Global economic developments” appear as less of a concern in theAmericas than in all other regions of the world.

“State of the economy in home market” (25% in the current survey,
up 1% compared to 6 months ago);“Competition from within the industry” appears as more of a concern
in Asia-Pacific, compared to other regions.

“Competition from within the industry” (19% in the current survey, up
1% compared to 6 months ago);“Competition from within the industry” and “Impact of digitalisation”
are less important for venues than for organisers and service
providers.

“Global economic developments” (20% in the current survey, up 2%
compared to 6 months ago);“Internal challenges” (15% in the current survey, down 2% comparedto 6 months ago), where “Human resources” are named as the mostimportant aspect.
“Impact of digitisation” (“Responding to customer digitisation needs”,“New digital products” or “Internal processes”), “Competition withother media” (“Internet”, “Social media”, “Virtual trade shows” or“Other”) and “Regulatory / Stakeholders issues” (“Sustainability”,“Health & safety” or “Other) keep similar levels to the last survey.

22nd UFI Global Exhibition Barometer / January 2019 ©

8

Top Issues: Global Results

22nd UFI Global Exhibition Barometer / January 2019 ©

9

Most important issues: detail by region
and type of activity

22nd UFI Global Exhibition Barometer / January 2019 ©

10

What Makes an Event More Enjoyable?

The recent “Global Visitor Insights” produced by UFI and EXPLORI(see footnote) indicates that visitors increasingly expect personalised
experiences and entertainment appears to be especially important for
the younger attendees. The study also indicates which components
visitors consider “most likely to make a trade show entertaining or
enjoyable”.
The same question was asked in the 22nd Global Barometer survey
and the results are indicated in the next pages.
The first chart on the next page indicates the survey results, wherecompanies selected 3.7 answers on average. These results arethen weighted to the same level of answers as in the “Global Visitor
Insights” in order to compare them.

The most significant differences between visitors and the industry are
for “Informal or street food style catering” (25% for visitors and 14%
in this survey) and Interactive / audience generated content (21% forvisitors, but 38% in this survey).
The second chart on the next page shows the results by region.
Overall results don’t vary much, but the most cited element does:•••

In the Americas and in Asia/Pacific, “Talks and presentationsdelivered in different ways” receives the most backing;In Europe, “Interactive / Audience Generated Content” receives
the most backing;In the Middle East / Africa region, “New Technology such as
Virtual Reality” is seen as the most relevant element.

The results highlight a good matching between the view of theexhibition industry and that of the visitors, with the most important
items being selected in a similar way: “Talks and presentationsdelivered in different ways” (42% for visitors and 40% in this survey),“New technology such as Virtual Reality” (34% for visitors and 28% inthis survey) or “Informal networking” (29% for visitors and 37% in thissurvey).

Footnote: This study – whose results are available at www.ufi.org/research (full report available to UFI Members) was based on data from a quantitative survey of over a million global trade show
visitors, resulting 13,000+ responses, representing 135 countries, 18 languages and attend trade shows in at least 21 countries.

22nd UFI Global Exhibition Barometer / January 2019 ©

11

What Makes an Event More Enjoyable?
By region and type of activity

22nd UFI Global Exhibition Barometer / January 2019 ©

12

Priorities in terms of strategy
Companies were asked to share their current priorities in termsof strategy in two specific areas: their range of activities and theirgeographical exposure.
In all regions, a large majority of companies intend to develop new
activities, either in the classic range of exhibition industry activities(venue/organiser/services), or outside of the current productportfolios, or in both areas: 75% in the Middle East & Africa, 82% in
Asia/Pacific, 85% in Europe and 91% in the Americas.
In terms of geographical expansion, 4 companies out of 10 on
average declare an intention to develop operations in new countries.
At region level, Europe and Americas show the biggest increase
for this development when compared to the situation a year ago: amajority of companies from Europe - 51% - now plan to operate ina new country (+12% since last year) and this is the case for 41% of
respondents in the Americas (+11% since last year).
At country level, international development is on the agenda of amajority of companies in 6 of the 19 markets analysed: the UK (89%),
India (71%), Italy (63%), Germany (60%), “other countries in Asia/
Pacific” (58%) and USA (50%).

22nd UFI Global Exhibition Barometer / January 2019 ©

13

Current strategic priorities related to the rangeof activities: by region

22nd UFI Global Exhibition Barometer / January 2019 ©

14

Current strategic priorities related to the rangeof activities: by type of activity

22nd UFI Global Exhibition Barometer / January 2019 ©

15

Current strategic priorities related to geographic
exposure: region

22nd UFI Global Exhibition Barometer / January 2019 ©

16

Current strategic priorities related to geographic
exposure: by type of activity

22nd UFI Global Exhibition Barometer / January 2019 ©

17

Part 2:
Detailed results for 19 selected countries or zones

North America: 					Mexico									USCentral and South America: 		Brazil									Other countries

Europe: 						Germany									Italy									Russia									United Kingdom									Other countries in Europe

Africa:							South Africa

Middle East:					

Middle East

Asia - Pacific: 					Australia									China									India									Indonesia									Japan									Macau									Thailand									Other countries in Asia - Pacific22nd UFI Global Exhibition Barometer / January 2019 ©

18

Detailed results for MEXICO

22nd UFI Global Exhibition Barometer / January 2019 ©

(14 answers in total)

19

Detailed results for MEXICO

22nd UFI Global Exhibition Barometer / January 2019 ©

(14 answers in total)

20

Detailed results for US

22nd UFI Global Exhibition Barometer / January 2019 ©

(12 answers in total)

21

Detailed results for US

22nd UFI Global Exhibition Barometer / January 2019 ©

(12 answers in total)

22

Detailed results for Brazil

22nd UFI Global Exhibition Barometer / January 2019 ©

(12 answers in total)

23

Detailed results for Brazil

22nd UFI Global Exhibition Barometer / January 2019 ©

(12 answers in total)

24

Detailed results for other countries in CSA

22nd UFI Global Exhibition Barometer / January 2019 ©

(21 answers in total)

25

Detailed results for other countries in CSA

22nd UFI Global Exhibition Barometer / January 2019 ©

(21 answers in total)

26

Detailed results for Germany

22nd UFI Global Exhibition Barometer / January 2019 ©

(18 answers in total)

27

Detailed results for Germany

22nd UFI Global Exhibition Barometer / January 2019 ©

(18 answers in total)

28

Detailed results for Italy

22nd UFI Global Exhibition Barometer / January 2019 ©

(10 answers in total)

29

Detailed results for Italy

22nd UFI Global Exhibition Barometer / January 2019 ©

(10 answers in total)

30

Detailed results for Russia

22nd UFI Global Exhibition Barometer / January 2019 ©

(12 answers in total)

31

Detailed results for Russia

22nd UFI Global Exhibition Barometer / January 2019 ©

(12 answers in total)

32

Detailed results for UK

22nd UFI Global Exhibition Barometer / January 2019 ©

(11 answers in total)

33

Detailed results for UK

22nd UFI Global Exhibition Barometer / January 2019 ©

(11 answers in total)

34

Detailed results for other countries in Europe

22nd UFI Global Exhibition Barometer / January 2019 ©

(34 answers in total)

35

Detailed results for other countries in Europe

22nd UFI Global Exhibition Barometer / January 2019 ©

(34 answers in total)

36

Detailed results for South Africa

22nd UFI Global Exhibition Barometer / January 2019 ©

(19 answers in total)

37

Detailed results for South Africa

22nd UFI Global Exhibition Barometer / January 2019 ©

(19 answers in total)

38

Detailed results the Middle East

22nd UFI Global Exhibition Barometer / January 2019 ©

(15 answers in total)

39

Detailed results the Middle East

22nd UFI Global Exhibition Barometer / January 2019 ©

(15 answers in total)

40

Detailed results Australia

22nd UFI Global Exhibition Barometer / January 2019 ©

(17 answers in total)

41

Detailed results Australia

22nd UFI Global Exhibition Barometer / January 2019 ©

(17 answers in total)

42

Detailed results for China

22nd UFI Global Exhibition Barometer / January 2019 ©

(23 answers in total)

43

Detailed results for China

22nd UFI Global Exhibition Barometer / January 2019 ©

(23 answers in total)

44

Detailed results for India

22nd UFI Global Exhibition Barometer / January 2019 ©

(17 answers in total)

45

Detailed results for India

22nd UFI Global Exhibition Barometer / January 2019 ©

(17 answers in total)

46

Detailed results for Indonesia

22nd UFI Global Exhibition Barometer / January 2019 ©

(10 answers in total)

47

Detailed results for Indonesia

22nd UFI Global Exhibition Barometer / January 2019 ©

(10 answers in total)

48

Detailed results for Japan

22nd UFI Global Exhibition Barometer / January 2019 ©

(15 answers in total)

49

Detailed results for Japan

22nd UFI Global Exhibition Barometer / January 2019 ©

(15 answers in total)

50

Detailed results for Macau

22nd UFI Global Exhibition Barometer / January 2019 ©

(11 answers in total)

51

Detailed results for Macau

22nd UFI Global Exhibition Barometer / January 2019 ©

(11 answers in total)

52

Detailed results for Thailand

22nd UFI Global Exhibition Barometer / January 2019 ©

(13 answers in total)

53

Detailed results for Thailand

22nd UFI Global Exhibition Barometer / January 2019 ©

(13 answers in total)

54

Detailed results for other countries in Asia - Pacific22nd UFI Global Exhibition Barometer / January 2019 ©

(14 answers in total)

55

Detailed results for other countries in Asia - Pacific22nd UFI Global Exhibition Barometer / January 2019 ©

(14 answers in total)

56

Conclusion
The Global Barometer survey has been measuring the pulse of theexhibition industry since 2008. This 22nd survey, concluded in January
2019, was answered by 302 companies from 53 countries. The results aredetailed for 19 geographical zones, including 15 major markets.
Survey results reveal a generally positive outlook in terms of financial
expectations with, however, significant differences at market level:

highlight a good matching between the views of companies from theexhibition industry with those from the visitors, with the most important
items being selected in a similar way: “Talks and presentations delivered indifferent ways” (42% for visitors and 40% in this survey), “New technology
such as Virtual Reality” (34% for visitors and 28% in this survey) or“Informal networking” (29% for visitors and 37% in this survey).

•

Finally, companies were asked about their current strategic priorities in twoareas and the results indicate that:•

Regarding turnover year-on-year, 74% of companies around the world
declared an increase in the 2nd half of 2018, 63% anticipate one forthe first half of 2019 and 69% for the 2nd half of 2019. Several markets
anticipate outperforming these scores for 2019: Brazil, China, Germany,
India, Indonesia, Italy, Mexico, Thailand, the Middle East and the UK,
whereas a significant level of uncertainty exists in South Africa, coupledwith several expected decreases in Australia, Japan and Macau;
In terms of operating profit, in each of the four regions, 80% ofcompanies maintained a good level of performance in 2018 and around
30 to 40% of them declared an increase of more than 10% compared to2017. The highest proportions of companies declaring such an increase
are observed in Mexico (62%), Italy (56%), United Kingdom (55%) andIndonesia (50%).

When asked about the most important issues for their business in the
coming year, companies remain concerned about the following 4 topics:“State of the economy in home market” (25% in the current survey, up 1%
compared to 6 months ago), “Global economic developments” (20%, up2%), “Competition from within the industry” (19%, up 1%) and “Internal
challenges” (15%, down 2%).
The survey also tackled the “entertainment” component of exhibitions,highlighted in the recent “Global Visitor Insights” produced by UFI and
EXPLORI as especially important for the younger attendees. Results
22nd UFI Global Exhibition Barometer / January 2019 ©

•In terms of the range of activities, a large majority of companies intend
to develop new activities, in either the classic range of exhibitionindustry activities (venue/organiser/services), other live events or virtual
events, or in both: 72% in the Middle East & Africa, 78% in Asia/Pacificand 88% respectively in the Americas and Europe.

•

In terms of geographical expansion, 4 companies out of 10 on
average declare an intention to develop operations in new countries.
At region level, Europe and Americas show the biggest increase forthis development when compared to the situation a year ago: 51% ofcompanies based in Europe plan to operate in at least one additionalcountry (+12% since last year) and 41% of companies based in theAmericas (+11% since last year).

THANK YOU TO ALL SURVEY PARTICIPANTS FOR YOURCONTRIBUTION!
THE NEXT GLOBAL BAROMETER SURVEY WILL BE CONDUCTED IN
JUNE 2019 – PLEASE PARTICIPATE!

57

Appendix: Number of survey replies per country
Total = 302 (in 53 countries/regions)North America			
CanadaMexico
USA

29
2
14
13

Central & South America		
Argentina
Bolivia
BrazilChile
Colombia
Costa Rica
Cuba
EcuadorEl Salvador
Perú

33
6
3
12
2
5
1
1
1
1
1

Africa					 20South Africa
19
Kenya
1

22nd UFI Global Exhibition Barometer / January 2019 ©

EuropeAlbania
Austria
Belgium
Croatia
Czech Republic
FranceGeorgia
Germany
GreeceHungary
Italy
Netherlands
Portugal
Romania
Russian federation
Slovenia
Spain
SwedenTurkeyUkraineUnited Kingdom

85
2
1
3
1
1
2
1
18
2
1
10
2
1
1
12
1
4
3
7
1
11

Middle East
Iran
Iraq
JordanKuwait
Qatar
Saudi Arabia
UAE

15
3
1
1
1
1
3
5

Asia / Pacific
Australia
China
India
Indonesia
Japan
Macau
Malaysia
New ZealandSingapore
South Korea
Thailand
Vietnam

120
17
23
17
10
15
11
2
1
6
4
13
1

58

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