UFI, The Global Association of the Exhibition Industry, has released two reports – one containing overall statistics of the exhibition sector for 2024, including the total number of exhibitions held and floor space booked and participant satisfaction, while the other outlines the economic impact of the sector, from the number of people employed to direct and indirect spending driven by exhibitions.
The statistics report shows that net exhibition space rented in 2024 was 138 million square metres – 96 per cent of the 143.7 million square metres of space rented immediately pre-pandemic in 2019.
According to UFI, in 2024, 1,432 venues hosted 32,000 exhibitions worldwide, providing a platform for 4.7 million exhibiting companies to interact with 318 million visitors.
The economic impact report put the direct spending prompted by exhibitions at €150 billion (AU$263.7 billion), which includes the spend by exhibition companies to deliver exhibitions as well as the spend by exhibitors and visitors to participate in exhibitions.
When factoring in indirect and induced spending – for example spending by exhibition venues and even how those employed within the exhibition ecosystem spend their wages – UFI puts the total economic impact of exhibitions at €368 billion (AU$647 billion).
UFI’s research values the exhibition sector’s total output at €215 billion in GDP, supporting 4.3 million full-time equivalent jobs.
“These reports demonstrate the resilience and recovery of our industry and whilst the numbers and size of individual exhibitions may have changed, from a global perspective we can see customer satisfaction has increased and the economic significance of our industry remains hugely important to our industry, our host cities and the markets we serve,” said UFI’s managing director and CEO, Chris Skeith OBE.
The statistics report showed that net promotor scores – widely viewed as a measure of customer satisfaction – for participants had risen significantly post-pandemic – by 10 to 31 points for visitors, depending on the geographic region and by 20 to 29 points for exhibitors.
When looking at metrics and impact by region, Europe enjoyed the largest number of exhibition visitors and the largest amount of floor space rented in 2024, but North America took top spot for the number of exhibiting companies and total economic output. The Asia Pacific came in third across all these metrics.
