According to almost half of the 173 exhibition companies that responded to UFI’s sixth Global Exhibition Barometer survey in December, the impact of the recession is over. Respondents predicted an increase in turnover for the first time since UFI began the survey. It’s a strong indication that 2011 should be a much better year for the global industry.
Flip the calendar back to January and just eight per cent thought the worst of the recession was behind us. In the space of a year we’re painting a significantly more rosy picture of the exhibition industry’s health.
A key fact to draw from the sixth Barometer survey is that the half of us that doesn’t think the impact of the recession is over, thinks we’ll continue to feel the impact of the recession until well into the second half of 2012. The reason for this is quite simple. They are largely the respondents from Europe and the US, where despite the upswing there is still more road to travel before everyone reports improved performance.
In terms of gross turnover, for the first half of 2011 the percentage of companies declaring an increase varies from 70 per cent for the Americas or Europe to 89 per cent for the Middle East and Africa.
There is a clear geographic divide between the current fortunes of those in the developing markets and those in the mature markets. And ironically, it’s the mature consolidated markets – those that we might have expected to be better protected against economic turbulence – that will wait longest for full stability.
- Antony Reeve-Crook, Editor of Exhibition World
Any comments? Email arc@mashmedia.net
